Doug Ford's dislike of fourplexes likely won’t affect us, mayor says

Premier Doug Ford's antipathy to fourplexes as a solution to Ontario's housing shortage may not affect the city's decision last week to allow fourplex, fiveplex, even sixplex apartment buildings in neighbourhoods consisting largely of single-family detached dwellings.

"We’re awaiting details from the Government of Ontario regarding the premier's comments on multiplex developments," Mayor Matthew Shoemaker tells SooToday.

"But him mentioning that his government won’t override municipal planning leads me to believe that municipalities will still have the option to act in support of addressing the housing crisis.

"This should be the case because we are positioned to determine what works best in our community — a one-size-fits-all approach across Ontario won’t work," the mayor said.

Premier Doug Ford's housing affordability task force has recommended allowing as-of-right fourplexes across the province.

On Thursday, however, Ford described that idea as a "massive mistake."

"We are not going to go into communities and build four-storey or six-storey buildings beside residences like this,” the premier said, adding: “It's off the table for us. We're going to build homes, single-dwelling homes, townhomes — that's what we're gonna focus on.”

But Mayor Shoemaker remains optimistic fourplexes will help the Sault reach its Ontario government-assigned target of 1,500 new homes by 2031.

"The challenges in Sault Ste. Marie are different from what municipalities in southern Ontario are facing," the mayor said.

"The amendments approved [last] Monday by city council aimed towards increasing the local housing supply by implementing 'as-of-right' permitting of multiplexes did contain requirements that any potential new developments subject to these amendments have to meet.

"The concerns raised by the premier related to parking and the impact on existing neighbourhoods are addressed, in our case, through the requirements we’ve established.

"These amendments are a foremost example of what municipalities can do to address the housing crisis, and I don’t anticipate we’ll be affected by the premier's view of this issue," Shoemaker said.

Tom Vair, the city's chief administrative officer, said "the amendments approved by council shifts the city approach to form-based zoning with performance standards that help ensure consistency with existing neighbourhoods. For example, in an R2 zone, the maximum building height would be two storeys.

"So, developers would not have the ability to build a four- or six-storey apartment building as of right. The goal is to enable gentle density that assists with the creation of affordable housing in an efficient manner within the community," Vair said.

"The housing crisis is a foremost challenge for communities across Ontario," Mayor Shoemaker said.

"We believe we’ve set the most ambitious densification target of any municipality in the province," he continued.

"Leveraging every tool at our disposal, we are expediting the construction of new homes and we’re already experiencing success as evidenced by the most recent data from the Government of Ontario, which shows we nearly doubled our provincially assigned target for new homes in 2023. We’re awaiting details."