Transit-oriented communities have been integral to Ontario’s growth strategy, focusing the development of housing and jobs around forthcoming transportation routes to help reduce gridlock and emissions, and also build vibrant, better-connected neighbourhoods.
But planned legislative changes that were meant to further help increase density around subway, train and LRT stops have now been taken off the table.
The provincial government was gearing up to make a big announcement this spring about impending policy changes in the form of a Transit Heights Framework, but, per Global News, nothing ever came to fruition.
Surely high density housing around transit hubs (we spend billions on) is a non-partisan issue. This is dumb. https://t.co/keWRyBYuP3
— David Portier (@optimistictory) September 11, 2024
The “aggressive” scheme was going to set minimum height requirements for pockets around hundreds of transit hubs provincewide, largely in downtown Toronto and Peel Region.
It included specifics for building around every single one of Toronto’s major subways and LRTs, both current and future.
Reporters from Global, who sourced hundreds of pages about the plan through the Freedom of Information Act, say that the province had completed “detailed work” on the project, only to have it quietly scrapped.
As one person remarked in response to the news on X, “if they were going station-by-station that’s a lot of work to amount to nothing.” The bulk of other reactions are also negative.
The only question this government wants answered is: will developers benefit?
— Ana Lia Pauchulo She/Her (@Ana_Pauchulo) September 11, 2024
“No minimum heights as of right near transit stations. No fourplexes as of right provincewide. No known plans to legalize single stair apartments to build multi-family spaces. There is no provincial government in Canada as actively hostile to its young adults as Ontario,” another lamented.
Pro-housing group More Neighbours Toronto wrote, “In 2022, we called on the provincial government to increase density around Toronto’s transit stations. Two years later, we find out that Doug Ford himself has shelved this policy.”
As late as this spring, City of Toronto staff claimed to still be in negotiations around Toronto’s MTSAs. That would be consistent with the Premier’s “I wouldn’t want to offend the gatekeepers” approach. Or it just might be dead. We’ll see. https://t.co/3a20MxX20m
— TFCNU (@TFCNU2) September 11, 2024
It is unclear if this will impact the City of Toronto’s plan to move ahead with what it calls Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs), and also whether the nixed framework from the Province, in whole or in part, will make its way into future housing bills.
Some residents are hopeful, with one suggesting that “Great ideas are always great ideas. Maybe they’ll change their minds.”
