Achi news desk-
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is clarifying his comments on quadruplexes across the province, even as his government shut down the idea of allowing four-storey buildings to be built in residential neighborhoods without prior municipal approval.
On Friday, Ford said that while he is in favor of four units on one property, he is against the idea of four-story buildings in neighborhoods that typically consist of single-family homes or semi-detached houses.
“You have to differentiate between putting four units in an existing house or your neighbor tearing the house down and putting in a four-story tower,” Ford said in a Hamilton housing publication.
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“But what I’m not doing is putting four-story, six-story, eight-story towers right dead center in a community with regular housing,” Ford said.
While the Ford government was considering whether to accept a recommendation from the Housing Affordability Task Force on a quadruplex, the premier publicly put his foot down, disregarding the policy altogether.
The task force, which considers policies like the right ones as the fastest way to boost housing in existing communities, recommended allowing residential housing “up to four units and up to four floors on one residential lot” without municipal approval.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie used the recommendation to write a private member’s bill, called the Ontario Building Act, which would allow the construction of four-units and quadruplexes across the province as of right.
Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are likely to defeat the Liberal party’s measure because the policy, the premier said, would be a “disaster.”
Ford said the province “would not override municipal planning to mandate four, six, eight-storey buildings” and allow city councils to decide whether a quadruplex is right for their neighbourhoods.”
“Queen’s Park doesn’t know best,” said Ford.
Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser criticized Premier Ford’s position, saying he was choosing “red tape and the status quo.”
“I really hope the Ford government will change course on this decision,” Fraser said in a statement.
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
