Anti-sprawl rules not seen as factor in hot sector

TORONTO The Ontario government is dismissing suggestions that the province’s anti-sprawl policies are contributing to housing supply shortage and soaring home prices in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

Developers argue that easing restrictions on construction of detached homes and townhouses on “greenfield” land — areas set aside by municipalities for development as part of Ontario’s growth plan a decade ago — could help boost supply.

The province is expected to release its updated growth plan this spring after years of consultations, but preliminary recommendations suggest it will be more restrictive of low-rise homes, with higher intensification and density targets aimed at limiting urban sprawl.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Monday her government will introduce a package of housing affordability measures “very soon” that she believes will have a swift impact on the hot Torontoarea housing market. The premier wouldn’t provide any details on the package, but said her Liberal government recognizes the complexity of the market and will be judicious in its approach.

The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) would like the province to make changes to its growth plan that will allow developers to build more low-rise detached homes and townhouses on unbuilt land in the GTHA.

BILD and other industry groups note they aren’t proposing venturing into the Greenbelt — an 800,000-hectare area of government-protected swaths of farmland, green space and wetlands around the GTHA. Instead they’re suggesting targeting the “greenfield” lands on the outskirts of the region’s cities.

The association’s president and CEO Bryan Tuckey says the restrictive growth plan policy that’s been in place for the last decade — known as Places to Grow — has contributed to the housing shortage and soaring home prices.