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FORUM: Province late to the party on affordable housing rules (Sept. 2025)

December 15th, 2025 · No Comments

What do the new housing rules mean for University-Rosedale?

By Jessica Bell

In August, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Robert Flack, approved changes to encourage the construction of more apartments and condos near transit stations and to require new developments to include some affordable homes.

How will these new rules impact the look and feel of University-Rosedale? Who will benefit? Who’s missing out? What can we do to improve them?

The rules will increase density and raise maximum heights in the areas surrounding 120 transit stations, including every transit station in University-Rosedale. Allowable density ranges from 20 to 30 storeys on very large lots near some stations to four- and six-storey buildings further away. The city has a map detailing the new rules for each train station.  

The province also gave Toronto permission to implement an inclusionary zoning policy to require big condo developments to allocate five per cent of the homes for moderate and middle-income households for up to 25 years. Developers do not have to pay development charges on these affordable homes.  

These new homes will be priced to be affordable for households earning between $44, 000 to $112, 000 a year, depending on the size of the family.  An affordable one-bedroom condo will be priced at $374,000, and an affordable two-bedroom apartment will cost about $1985 a month to rent.  

I have long advocated for increased density near transit stations and an effective inclusionary zoning policy because these rules will help address our housing affordability and housing supply needs. That said, I also have some concerns.

As Toronto embarks on building new housing, there is value to making sure the housing we’re building matches our city’s housing needs. Toronto has a lot of bachelor and one-bedroom condos, but not enough two- and three-bedroom homes, purpose-built rentals, and senior and student housing. I would like to see the province give the city the power to put additional conditions on new buildings to require the construction of needed housing.   

The second is that the affordable housing requirement is small. The province has imposed an inclusionary zoning policy on Toronto that is a modest version of the policy the city passed back in 2021, four years ago. 

The original inclusionary zoning law required developments to make up to 10 per cent of the homes affordable for 99 years. It applied to purpose-built rentals, not just condos, and it extended across much of the city, not just near stations. These rules were developed by the city after extensive economic studies and public consultation to ensure developers got the height increases they needed to still make a profit.  

The third issue is timing. These inclusionary zoning rules will only apply to developments that have not yet been approved by the city.  All the new developments that have been approved on Dalton, Walmer, Spadina, and Bathurst are not required to build any affordable housing. If the city’s inclusionary zoning policy had been approved by the province back in 2021, 9,000 affordable homes could have been approved by now. What a massive lost opportunity.

The fourth issue is the lack of clarity around who gets to decide who lives in these homes. Currently, it’s each developer’s responsibility to set up an application process for eligible people to apply, meaning an applicant would have to apply dozens of times for each building under construction. It would be better to have a centralized, transparent system run by the city so people who are eligible can apply and then automatically be eligible for all new available homes. 

The fifth is that inclusionary zoning and new supply do not solve our city’s homelessness and addiction crisis. These homes will not be for the 81,000 people on the official City of Toronto wait-list for subsidized housing, nor the people living in ravines and encampments in Kensington, Rosedale Valley Road, or Dufferin Grove who desperately need supportive housing.  

Governments at all levels need to implement immediate short-term solutions to move people out of tents and into housing, while implementing the long term plan of building, buying, and investing in affordable housing, including building housing on public land.   

From the modular housing being built on Bellevue Avenue to 877 Yonge St. that the city bought with federal money and converted to supportive housing, we have examples of what we could do all around us.

We have to scale up housing that meets the housing needs of our city. 

 I welcome your feedback on these new changes to density and inclusionary zoning.   

Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale and the Shadow Minister for Finance and the Treasury Board. You can reach her office at jbell-co@ndp.on.ca or 416-535-7206.

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Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion

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