For decades, people in Ontario believed that if they studied, worked hard, and saved money, they could own a home. This was the “Ontario dream”. Things are different now and it feels like the deck is stacked against an entire generation.
The cost of a home is skyrocketing month after month. Homeownership is a pipe dream for so many, whether you live in the city, in the North or a rural community. Simply put, there aren’t enough homes.
People like nurses, teachers, and firefighters, can no longer live in the communities they serve. Seniors struggle to find the Personal Support Workers and health care workers they need. After rent or mortgage is paid, there is no more money in the bank.
Build More Housing
Housing is a fundamental human need. It should be a human right. But our system is broken and the Province has the most levers to fix it.
Doug Ford and the Conservatives keep promising to change the trajectory of rising home prices. But I ask you, has life become more affordable under Doug Ford? No. Doug Ford prefers to pick fights than find solutions. Doug Ford prefers to sell off the Greenbelt so his developer friends can profit over $8 billion. Doug Ford prefers to pass the buck than to listen to experts.
As a Mayor, I’ve worked to ensure Mississauga builds at least 120,000 more homes by 2031. But we need to go even further, which means we must work collaboratively across governments. Because people don’t just want a home; they want a community with parks, schools, daycares, public transit, healthcare facilities, and job opportunities.
As Premier, I promise to tackle this housing crisis and make our communities places you are proud to call home.
I’ve been speaking to people on how to solve this problem in every corner of this province. These are some of the key actions that I believe can help us break down the barriers to building more homes:
Incentivize the housing developments we need
- Require home builders to include at least 20% long-term affordable units as a condition of sale of all provincial surplus lands for housing development, including GO Station parking lots.
- Introduce provincial rebates for Development Charges for purpose-built rental housing.
- Remove the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) on the construction of purpose-built rental housing retroactive to the recent federal announcement.
- Create an as-of-right zoning framework to unlock more rental homes on existing rental sites and offer a density bonus so purpose-built rental projects can compete against condo developments.
- Adopt a whole-of-government approach to mobilize departments responsible for housing, municipal affairs, infrastructure and transportation to improve coordination and remove unnecessary barriers to building more homes.
- Call an Emergency Housing Summit with all three levels of government and home builders to find solutions and leverage the province’s financial and legislative authority to tackle the housing crisis.
- Make it easier to turn existing plazas and strip malls into mid-rise residential buildings while keeping shops at street level as part of a “reimagining the mall” strategy.
- Build complete communities by aligning intensification with the building of hospitals, schools, community centers, public transit, and arterial roads and highways and other community infrastructure.
- Reward towns and cities with progress-based, top-up funding for community infrastructure tied to housing starts.
- Support union-led apprenticeship and skilled trades training programs for all people, with a focus on women, newcomers, and people from racialized and marginalized communities.
- Welcome more skilled newcomers in construction-related fields to bolster our workforce and build homes.
- Help universities and colleges build affordable places for students to live, on and off campus by providing them with low-cost financing options, in conjunction with our postsecondary plan.
Eliminate NIMBY delays
- Limit the right to third-party Ontario Land Tribunal appeals of planning application decisions to federal and provincial agencies and entities such as conservation authorities.
- End exclusionary zoning to create gentle density by allowing up to four units and four storeys on every residential lot.
- Permit construction of six-plexes if the project meets the affordable housing funding criteria set by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
- Set provincial standards and/or prohibitions for angular planes, setbacks, minimum parking requirements, stepbacks, and other local rules that prevent building more homes.
Stop ignoring and start listening
- Implement ALL recommendations of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force within two years of winning the 2026 provincial election in consultation with municipalities and stakeholders.
- Depoliticize the planning process by delegating technical planning approvals such as draft plans of subdivisions, lifting of holding provisions, consents, minor variances, and minor zoning bylaw amendments to expert planning staff.
- Change the Ontario Building Code to build more infill and missing-middle housing, including the revision of onerous egress requirements that hinder the feasibility of smaller-scale developments.
- Drive innovation in the home construction sector through grants, tax credits and other incentives for factories that build modular or prefabricated homes.
- Pre-approve off-the-shelf designs to speed up infill housing projects.
- Set up new rules for collecting and sharing housing data to make the process clear and open. This includes making MPAC more open and accessible.
- Update Ontario’s Building Code to make building energy-efficient, sustainable, and climate-resilient homes more feasible.
Simplify planning rules and streamline approvals
- Build more homes in existing urban boundaries instead of building on prime farmland, Greenbelt, and ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas.
- Promote and incentivize mid-rise buildings on our main roads and near transit corridors by allowing six to eleven storey buildings.
- Encourage building high-rises around major transit stations by removing height limits.
- Protect renters from rent gouging through a phased-in rental control system.
- Invest in the Landlord-Tenant Board to streamline its processes, clear the backlog of cases expeditiously, and set a target of resolving disputes within 6-8 weeks.
- Tax vacant homes in urban areas so property owners use, rent, or sell them.
Invest in social housing and tackle homelessness
- Work with local and federal governments to address the repair and maintenance backlog on social housing.
- Build new rent-geared-to-income, below-market rental, and supportive housing.
- Make it easier to convert vacant office buildings into mixed-use residential spaces.
- Adopt a housing-first approach with wrap-around services to address homelessness, in collaboration with federal and municipal governments.
- Create a comprehensive provincial plan to ensure people experiencing homelessness or domestic abuse/violence receive immediate access to emergency shelter, food, safety, and basic health services and can be connected to supportive, transition, or social housing service providers.
- Reverse the Ford government’s cuts to emergency shelter, supportive and transitional housing, rent-geared-to-income units, Indigenous housing, and below-market rental unit construction and operations.
- Give municipalities and service managers funding to create emergency rent banks to help tenants in crisis from falling into arrears.
I continue to travel the province and want to hear from you. Do you have an idea? Email me.