Mayor Olivia Chow says Toronto’s housing plan, which includes allowing sixplexes in some city wards, is ambitious.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she’s confident that $30-million in federal housing funding is not at risk despite council’s refusal to permit sixplexes across the entirety of the city − a condition of its agreement with Ottawa.
“Look at me. Do I look worried?” Ms. Chow told The Globe and Mail on Friday at a meeting with its editorial board.
In late June, Toronto City Council passed a motion allowing sixplexes “as of right” in nine of the city’s 25 wards. Those wards are in downtown Toronto, East York and part of Scarborough. As-of-right zoning means property owners don’t require additional permission to build up to six units on one lot.
The initial proposal was to permit such buildings across the entire city, but it was amended because of fears that it did not have majority support and would be shot down, Ms. Chow said.
Earlier this year, then-federal housing minister Nate Erskine-Smith warned Ms. Chow in a letter that any deviation from a citywide policy permitting such buildings would result in 25 per cent less federal funding. That amounts to nearly $30-million of the total $118-million that Ottawa has pledged annually to Toronto from its Housing Accelerator Fund.
However, the new Housing Minister, Gregor Robertson, who was appointed by Prime Minister Mark Carney in May, has not indicated whether he will follow his predecessor’s lead.
On Friday, Ms. Chow said that Mr. Robertson, a former Vancouver mayor, understands the housing crisis and the challenges posed by municipal politics.
“I don’t think there should be any clawback because our new housing minister has been a mayor and he would understand that it’s not that simple to push things through,” Ms. Chow said.
Toronto wrangles with a simple question: What is a multiplex?
Allowing sixplexes is one of eight “milestones” in Toronto’s agreement to receive $471-million over four years from the federal government. Ottawa is negotiating funding agreements with more than 170 municipalities.
Previously, Toronto permitted the as-of-right building of fourplexes across the city, a policy that was introduced in 2023. Since that time, construction has been completed on 108 multiplexes.
The federal funding is meant to boost housing across Canada by rewarding “ambitious housing initiatives from local governments” a spokesperson for Canada’s housing ministry wrote in a statement.
Multiplex housing is a key feature of Ottawa’s plan. Erecting such housing is attractive to property owners looking to turn a profit or homeowners keen on multigenerational living. The city’s zoning changes allow for what’s known as “gentle density,” where an increasing number of people live more closely together.
In her interview with The Globe and Mail’s editorial board, Ms. Chow said Toronto’s housing plan is ambitious, citing faster development approvals and eviction-prevention programs.
“I would dare say we’re more ambitious than the federal government,” Ms. Chow said.
However, not all agree. The city’s housing approach is incremental, not ambitious, said Sean Galbraith, a principal at a private-sector urban-planning company.
“I don’t consider these to be bold changes at all. They’re not even co-ordinated changes across departments,” Mr. Galbraith said.
Mr. Galbraith’s developer clients are interested in sixplexes but high city fees stop them from building, even in parts of the city that now allow them by right.
To build a sixplex for rentals, developers are charged between $63,000 and $68,000 per unit by the city, he said.
“There is currently a strong punishment if you actually want to do five or six units,” Mr. Galbraith said about building multiplexes.
Opinion: On housing, Toronto fails a crucial test
The suburbs surrounding downtown Toronto are in demand, Mr. Gailbraith said. The areas have larger lots, schools, shops and are close to the city centre, but these are also the areas that don’t permit sixplexes as of right.
Suburban councillors say expanding building permissions outside the city centre risks overcrowding and raising prices.
“Why don’t we just ask the people what they want?” Councillor Stephen Holyday said during the city council debate. “They’re not satisfied with ramming through sixplexes in communities that were never designed to house them.”
On Friday, Ms. Chow said property owners have been slow to embrace the multiplex and said she hopes to make constructing such housing “simpler, faster and cheaper.”
“We really need to sell it. Three units, four units. It’s already allowed. People are not doing it,” she said.
In 2024, the city broke ground on 20,999 new homes, fulfilling 88 per cent of a target set by the provincial government.