Windsor-Essex examines provincial planning policy

The provincial government has released a new planning guide for Ontario municipalities aimed at increasing the number and variety of housing units built.

The new guide has sparked much thought from Windsor’s executive director of planning and development, Neil Robertson, who says it’s an important update that aims to guide development in the face of the housing crisis. “I think it’s a welcome improvement and clear direction from the province on where their priorities are.”

The new guide is due to come into effect in October and highlights a number of goals including increasing activity around shopping centres and squares, as well as development around transport hubs.

The province’s goals would sound familiar to city officials, as Robertson says many of them align with a plan Windsor rolled out earlier this year in an unsuccessful bid to secure federal housing funding. “You might not recognize the Devonshire Mall of the future. There’s going to be a mall. But there could be residential buildings around it, maybe a small main street. Whatever it might be.”

The province’s plan also requires municipalities to set minimum affordable housing targets, an area where Robertson says the city needs more clarity: “Municipalities aren’t building homes. The numbers aren’t sufficient for the private sector to actually develop affordable housing, so it’s not happening unless there’s government subsidies or support for affordable housing.”

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

In Essex, a new official plan has been proposed, to run until 2051, in line with the new policy, which will see 30% of development land earmarked for intensification, and 20% for social housing.

NPG Planning Solutions President Mary Lou Tanner says there is a lot of potential for municipalities to really help alleviate the housing crisis: “There are a number of tools that municipalities and the county can use to implement this through new investment and working with municipalities and the development community.”

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

The updated provincial policy is partly aimed at boosting stalled housing construction and aims to deliver on the government’s housing promises.

In Ontario, housing starts fell more than 10 per cent year-over-year in July, while the value of building permits fell 11.8 per cent in June to $5.3 billion.

Windsor, on the other hand, bucked that trend after a slow 2023, growing 243 per cent over the same period.

This means the city is expecting 1,600 new housing estates this year, exceeding the annual average of 1,400.

Unfortunately, critics say the update doesn’t change much. Residential Construction Council of Ontario president Richard Lyall says if you’re looking for a culprit, look close to home: “NIMBYism tends to run rampant at the municipal level. Councillors are elected by their local neighbours in their ridings and they’re very sensitive to that. They’re politicians.”

He says the document doesn’t go far enough in requiring density, instead suggesting this: “We didn’t build museums in the towns and cities that we built. You know, growth and change is a constant thing.”