Crombie, Ford battle over four-storey housing development in suburbs

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Should your neighbour be able to knock down their two-storey home in your suburban neighbourhood and put up a four-storey, multi-residential unit?

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That’s been the argument in Ontario provincial politics over the last few days, though you might not know it.

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The Ontario Liberals released their new housing plan earlier this week claiming to take bold steps to fix the province’s housing affordability crisis. Bill 175, dubbed the “Building Universal and Inclusive Land Development in Ontario Act,” makes sweeping changes that prevent municipalities from restricting home building in several ways.

The most sweeping though, as the Liberals highlighted is that the law would “allow up to four residential units and up to four stories to be built as-of-right provincewide on any parcel of urban land that is zoned as ‘residential.’”

There are also prohibitions on requiring parking for any fourplexes or four-storey buildings and that multi-unit, residential building on any lot can include detached, semi-detached or rowhouses on a lot.

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Now, by “as-of-right” what this legislation means is that the owner of the property gets to make the decision and no local council can stop it. This is something that is pushed by housing advocates and planners, but it’s not something that would be popular in many residential neighbourhoods – especially low-density areas.

Premier Doug Ford was asked about Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie’s plan to allow fourplexes on Thursday. It’s not clear if he didn’t hear or didn’t understand the question, but he blasted her plan to allow four-storey buildings in any residential neighbourhood.

“I can assure you 1,000%, you go in the middle of communities and start putting up four-storey, six-storey, eight-storey buildings, and right deep in the communities, there’s going to be, there’s going to be a lot of shouting and screaming, that’s a massive mistake,” Ford said.

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On Friday, Ford was in Hamilton and asked again about fourplexes and answered about four-storey buildings in neighbourhoods.

“If I put a four-storey tower beside you or your neighbours, they’d lose their minds,” Ford said, noting that areas of the city like Ancaster, Waterdown or Stoney Creek wouldn’t accept tall buildings in your regular suburban neighbourhoods.

While it’s unclear if Ford has understood the questions given that he’s been asked about fourplexes and answered by talking about four-storey buildings, it’s also not clear that reporters covering Ford understand the difference.

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The Liberal plan is clear, it allows fourplexes as-of-right and it allows four-storey buildings as-of-right. That’s on any residential lot that is not considered rural. Don’t let the word “urban” fool you – this will apply in any built-up area of town.

Crombie has spent the last few days calling Ford a NIMBY (not in my backyard) housing opponent.

“You’ve shown your true NIMBY colours, Doug. If you won’t build the housing Ontario needs, I will,” she posted to X.

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Interestingly, when Crombie was mayor of Mississauga, she railed against these same ideas when they were put forward by the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force.

“A one-size-fits-all approach will not work,” Crombie said in March 2022 in response to the task force’s report.

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Crombie held a news conference complete with graphics to scare Mississauga residents, warning they could see four-storey buildings on their streets. Back then, she opposed the provincial task force recommendations – now she’s demanding the province implement them.

Crombie is right to suggest that fourplexes as-of-right should go ahead, it’s a sensible solution. Ford, though, is right that the public doesn’t want a four-storey building going up next to their single or double-storey suburban home.

Both leaders want to build housing and to solve the crisis we need good ideas. That doesn’t mean every suggestion put forward needs to be adopted.

Crombie’s four-storey as-of-right idea being applied to every community in the province is a non-starter. The housing advocates will tell her it’s a winner, but voters will make her a loser at the ballot box if she pushes it.

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