Proposed Changes

There are several changes proposed:

1. The Official Plan criteria that need to be met for conversions or demolitions of rental housing are proposed to be simplified by removing some of the detailed text about specific vacancy rates and market rent levels. Detailed numbers and requirements would be relocated within a Municipal Act By-law instead. Official Plan changes would be held in abeyance until a by-law under the Municipal Act comes into effect.
2. An additional requirement is proposed that the overall City-wide vacancy rate must be above three percent for the previous consecutive 24-month period, in addition to a vacancy rate of 2% for the specific unit type and local housing market zone across a 24-month period;
3. The permission allowing a conversion of a rental building to condominium if 75 percent of tenants are in agreement is proposed to be removed.
4. An additional permission is proposed to be added which may permit a demolition if the landowner demonstrates that rental housing units will be replaced by units of the same type (i.e. with the same number of bedrooms) either on-site, off-site in a comparable location within the same local housing market zone, or through a cash-in-lieu payment. An acceptable tenant relocation and assistance plan would be required in addition to replacement. This would provide an option that allows intensification projects to take place, meeting Provincial and City policy goals for intensification, while still protecting rental housing stock and tenants; and,
5. A new by-law is proposed to be enacted under the authority of the Municipal Act to regulate all conversions and demolitions of six or more rental units through a permit process. This would augment the current condominium conversion application process and also regulate demolitions. Detailed criteria for vacancy rate levels and market rent levels would be established in the by-law to ensure that proposed conversions or demolitions do not adversely impact the City’s current stock of affordable rental units. The By-law would also describe the types of conditions that the City may attach to a permit approval.

View the full Draft Official Plan Amendment

View the full Draft Municipal Act By-law