Bill 7 explained in plain English
Promoting Affordable Housing Act, 2016
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Promoting Affordable Housing Act, 2016 amends several provincial laws to encourage the development and availability of affordable housing in Ontario.
This Act amends various Ontario laws related to housing and planning. It introduces measures aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing. Key changes include amendments to the Development Charges Act, the Housing Services Act, the Planning Act, and the Residential Tenancies Act. It also repeals the Elderly Persons' Housing Aid Act and amends the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act. The goal is to facilitate the creation of more affordable housing units and streamline related processes.
- Amends the Development Charges Act, 1997 to permit the creation of a second dwelling unit in prescribed classes of proposed new residential buildings without imposing development charges, subject to restrictions.
- Repeals the Elderly Persons' Housing Aid Act.
- Amends the Housing Services Act, 2011 to require service managers to conduct enumerations of homeless persons, adjust rules for selecting households for rent-geared-to-income assistance, and modify restrictions on transactions related to certain housing projects.
- Amends the Planning Act to introduce inclusionary zoning policies, requiring municipalities to include policies for affordable housing in their official plans and to pass by-laws to implement these policies. It also modifies rules regarding appeals, site plan control, minor variances, subdivision control, and fees for development applications that include affordable housing.
- Amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to clarify that a tenant cannot be terminated for ceasing to be eligible for rent-geared-to-income assistance, and to shift the responsibility for enforcing property maintenance standards from the province to local municipalities.
- Amends the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act, 2015 by repealing an unnecessary amending provision.
- Municipalities (councils, planning boards, committees)
- Service managers (housing sector)
- Housing providers
- Landlords and tenants
- Developers
- Individuals seeking affordable housing
- Individuals experiencing homelessness
- The Minister of Housing
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council (for regulation-making powers)
- Municipalities are required to include inclusionary zoning policies in their official plans and pass by-laws to implement them, or are permitted to do so.
- Service managers must conduct enumerations of homeless persons and report information to the Minister.
- Landlords cannot terminate tenancies solely because a tenant is no longer eligible for rent-geared-to-income assistance.
- Local municipalities are responsible for receiving and investigating complaints about property maintenance standards.
- The Act received Royal Assent on December 8, 2016.
- Most of the Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- Some schedules and sections have commencement dates to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor or specific future dates.
- Development charges will not be imposed on the creation of a second dwelling unit in certain new residential buildings.
- Fees for development applications that include affordable housing units will be capped at a maximum prescribed by regulation.
- Local municipalities are responsible for enforcing property maintenance standards, including investigating non-compliance and issuing work orders.
- Failure to comply with work orders or obstruction of inspectors can lead to proceedings for alleged offences.
- Some provisions depend on regulations to be prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council or the Minister, which are not detailed in the Act itself.
- The exact date for the commencement of certain schedules and sections is not specified and will be proclaimed.
- The Act does not specify the exact number of affordable housing units or the exact fees that will be required, as these details may be set out in regulations or by-laws.
Prohibits municipalities from imposing development charges when a second dwelling unit is created in certain new residential buildings, subject to prescribed restrictions.
Source: Schedule 1, Section 1
The Act is repealed.
Source: Schedule 2, Section 1
Requires service managers to conduct enumerations of homeless persons, allows certain households receiving alternative financial assistance to be considered for rent-geared-to-income assistance, and changes consent requirements for transactions related to certain housing projects.
Source: Schedule 3
Introduces 'inclusionary zoning' policies requiring or permitting municipalities to include affordable housing units in new developments. It also modifies rules regarding official plans, by-laws, appeals, subdivision control, and fees for developments including affordable housing.
Source: Schedule 4
Clarifies that tenants cannot be evicted solely for losing eligibility for rent-geared-to-income assistance and transfers the responsibility for enforcing property maintenance standards from the province to local municipalities.
Source: Schedule 5
Repeals an amending provision that is no longer needed.
Source: Schedule 6, Section 1
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced