The new provincial planning policy and its impact in Windsor-Essex

The province has released new planning guide for municipalities across Ontario aimed at increasing the volume and variety of housing built.

The new guide has prompted a lot of contemplation for Windsor’s Executive Director of Planning and Development Neil Robertson, who says that it’s an important update to guide development in the midst of a housing crisis. “I thought it was a nice improvement and clear direction from the province about what their priorities are.”

The new guide is set to take effect in October and highlights a variety of goals including intensification around shopping malls and plazas, as well as building up around transit hubs.

The province’s goals would sound familiar to city officials, as Robertson says that many of them align with the plan Windsor rolled out at the beginning of the year in a failed bid for federal housing funds. “You might not recognize Devonshire mall in the future. There will be a mall there. But there might be apartment buildings around it, maybe a little main street. Whatever it might be.”

The province’s plan also requires municipalities to set mininum affordable housing targets, which is an area that Robertson says the city needs more clarity in, “Municipalities don't build homes. The numbers don't work out for the private sector to actually develop affordable homes so, they don't tend to happen unless there's government subsidies or support for affordable housing.”

Windsor’s Executive Director of Planning and Development Neil Robertson, September 13, 2024 (Ricardo Veneza/CTV News Windsor)

Over in the County of Essex, a proposed new official plan stretching to 2051 aligns with the new policies and sets aside 30 per cent of development land for intensification, as well as 20 per cent for affordable housing.

President of NPG Planning Solutions Mary Lou Tanner says that there’s a lot of potential for municipalities to make a real dent in the housing crisis, “There are a number of tools that municipalities and the county can use to implement that through new developments and working in partnership with the municipalities and with the development community.”

She pointed to specific examples for Essex to consider, “We see for example apartment buildings of four, six, eight stories with surface parking. That's an example of high density in the Essex context.”

The updated provincial policy is in part meant to boost stalled housing construction, and aspires to meet government housing promises.

In Ontario, housing starts are down more than 10 per cent year to date as of July, and the value of building permits fell 11.8 per cent in June to $5.3 billion.

While Windsor bucks the trend following a slow 2023, to climb 243 per cent over the same period.

That means that the city on pace for 1,600 starts this year, topping its annual average of 1,400.

Unfortunately, critics argue that the update does little to move the needle. Residential Construction Council of Ontario President Richard Lyall says that if you’re looking for the culprit, look close to home, “Nimbyism typically rules the day at the municipal level. Councillors get elected by their local neighbours in their wards and they're very sensitive to that. They're politicians.”

He says that the document doesn’t go far enough in requiring densification, as opposed to suggesting it, “We didn't build museums in the towns and cities we've built. You know, growth and change is an ongoing thing.”