City of Ottawa staff recommending no mandatory affordable housing around transit stations to start

Ottawa City Hall (CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa is looking at implementing rules for new developments around transit stations that would mandate a minimum amount of affordable housing but plans to start that minimum requirement at zero per cent.

“Inclusionary zoning” is targeted toward “moderate-income households,” according to a report for the city’s planning and housing committee and would serve as a bridge between deeply affordable housing, such as community housing, and market rates.

“It is not sufficient on its own to provide affordable housing for low-income households but can help deepen affordability for everyone by increasing housing diversity in the market,” the staff report says.

The proposal, however, is not considered conducive to attracting housing development in current market conditions, which is why city staff are recommending starting the mandatory amount at zero, with plans to increase it later, when market conditions improve.

“Making the program work as a functional tool to provide affordable housing requires several steps – setting the right rates for the economic conditions, ensuring the agreements are in place, linking residents to new homes, and ensuring the program works effectively as planned over the long term,” staff say.

Under provincial guidelines, up to five per cent of units could be mandated as “affordable,” with a maximum affordability period of 25 years.

The city says “affordable” would be defined as either 90 per cent of the average purchase price of a home in the area where it is zoned or the “reasonable housing and shelter costs that can be borne by a household at the sixth decile of household income,” whichever is lower.

An example included in the report says the affordability threshold for ownership of a detached, semi-detached or townhome is a maximum of $447,400, based on 30 per cent of gross income. Affordable rent for a one-bedroom is suggested as $1,526. In February, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa was $1,960, according to Rentals.ca and Urbanation.

The inclusionary zoning plan, if approved by city council, would be reviewed in two years to see if the mandatory amount of units to be set aside as affordable can be increased.

The report was prepared for the April 1 planning and housing committee meeting. It comes following a joint meeting of the planning and housing and finance and corporate services committee this week, which approved the city’s renewed 10-year housing and homelessness plan.

The plan realigns the city’s housing and homelessness strategy six years after it was first approved, extending it to 2035. The refreshed plan includes several goals such as increasing the supply of community housing, shortening the length of time people experiencing homelessness stay in the shelter system, and increasing access to housing affordability while preserving existing community housing stock. It also introduces a new income-based definition of housing affordability, shifting away from market rents tied to unit sizes. The plan must still be approved by city council.

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