LAST DAYS OF THE NIMBY: HOW OTTAWA’S HOUSING PUSH IS REWRITING THE RULES OF DEVELOPMENT

Last month, city councillors in Calgary settled in for what would turn out to be the city’s longest-ever public hearing. Over the course of 12 days, more than 700 residents and stakeholders paraded through council chambers at city hall to share their views ahead of a vote on sweeping changes to the city’s zoning rules.

The question was whether to implement blanket rezoning that would pave the way for more housing density in the 60 per cent of the city allocated to single-family dwellings.

An overwhelming majority of those who spoke were opposed to the rezoning, but city council last week voted to adopt the changes, with some amendments.

“This decision is important for ensuring that Calgarians can live in our city, not only with choice but with dignity,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who has been a staunch advocate for creating more housing in the city.

While Calgary’s debate played out in a public forum, others like it have been taking place across the country in recent months, in part in response to measures introduced by the federal government to address the chronic shortage of housing that has driven up rents and home prices.

Since last fall, municipalities have been cashing in on millions from the federal government’s $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), part of Ottawa’s $82 billion strategy to tackle the housing crisis.

To date, 179 Canadian municipalities have signed on, but the funds flowing through HAF come with a catch: in order to pave the way for more housing construction, jurisdictions that take the money must eliminate low-density zoning and any rules that prevent affordable and social housing in residential areas. They must also allow mixed-use and high-density residential development near urban cores and transit corridors.

The acronym  — which stands for “not in my backyard” — has long been used to refer to those who might support development, so long as it happens somewhere else. While NIMBYs have sprung up to oppose everything from nuclear power plants to garbage dumps, in an urban context, single-family neighbourhoods have been a hotbed of NIMBYism, with residents fighting development out of fear that it will change the character of their communities and strain local resources.

Though often able to leverage their political sway and superior numbers to delay and deter change, these days it seems the forces are aligning against the NIMBYs.

Myer Siemiatycki, a professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University who specializes in urban politics, noted that NIMBYism is an age-old phenomenon — even cavemen, he joked, probably worried about who and what was coming next door.

Siemiatycki said a significant portion of the residential property in major Canadian cities is limited to single-family dwellings. He argued that so long as this restriction exists, it will be difficult to solve the housing supply issue.

But the push for housing reform doesn’t sit well with everyone.

Fawcett also suggested that a more nuanced alternative to blanket rezoning could have involved permitting duplexes or similar options on properties currently zoned as R1 (where typically only one single-family home is allowed per lot). This approach could include transitioning to R2 zoning, characterized by buildings containing two dwelling units, one above the other, each with a separate entrance.

However, Calgary has instead approved residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) as the default residential zoning district citywide.

R-CG zoning allows for a mix of housing types, such as single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and row houses.

The city estimates suggest that the shift to R-CG could result in an additional 250 properties being redeveloped into row houses annually, potentially adding around 750 new homes to the city’s housing stock.

“I myself just sold a lot, single-family property, and they’re looking to put a minimum of six and up to 10 units on the lot,” Fawcett said last month. “That really changes the fabric of the neighbourhood when you put that much densification all at once.”

Her clients have also taken issue with Ottawa’s involvement in the debate.

“Since when does the federal government get to decide how everybody’s cities and communities are built? That’s stepping on provincial jurisdiction, you know, that’s not really their place,” she said. “The federal government’s dangling these carrots. It’s all or nothing. You do blanket re-zoning or you don’t get the money.”

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an additional $6 billion fund for housing infrastructure in April that required municipalities to adopt even more relaxed zoning to access the money, Ontario and Quebec were furious. The funds came in the form of an immediate $1 billion for urgent needs in municipalities, but the remaining $5 billion would flow to provinces — provided they adopted certain policies.

“It’s not up to the province to dictate where every single building is going to go,” Ontario’s premier Doug Ford told reporters at a press conference in Vaughan, Ont., in response to the measures. Ford has maintained that municipalities should have the authority to decide what gets built in their local communities.

Tensions between Ontario and the federal government were already high after municipalities such as Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton and Vaughan inked funding agreements for HAF — Toronto, in particular, signed on for the largest amount, $471 million.

Quebec, meanwhile, also criticized the federal government’s approach, urging Ottawa to address issues under its responsibility, such as immigration, instead of encroaching on provincial jurisdiction.

Alberta, also pushed back, declaring that it was prepared to take Ottawa to court over the housing deals.

But Ottawa has made it clear that the rezoning strategy is deliberate and that most municipalities have been willing participants. In January, housing minister Sean Fraser said communities that have signed deals with Ottawa have all indicated a readiness to adopt zoning reforms, and that competition for funding has led some initially resistant jurisdictions to become more receptive to reform, describing it as a “change in approach overnight.”

Calgary, apparently, was one of the cities Fraser was referring to.

Following the release of the city’s housing strategy and application for HAF last year, Gondek, Calgary’s mayor, took to the social media platform X, where she shared a letter from Fraser to emphasize her concerns that Ottawa might withhold funding unless zoning laws were amended.

“In order to receive a positive decision from me on your application — you must end exclusionary zoning in your city,” the letter from Fraser said.

While Calgary’s zoning debate took time, Vancouver embraced HAF with open arms, securing a commitment of $115 million from Ottawa in December after council approved a citywide rezoning plan. The funding is earmarked for an ambitious three-year plan to create 3,200 homes, with an even grander vision of constructing 40,000 homes over the next decade.

Realtor Adil Dinani sees the reform as an attractive opportunity for home buyers, but for sellers, the outcome of the policy change is unclear.

“I don’t think it (blanket rezoning) will change that much at all,” Moffatt said. “I think it will help get some additional homes built but it is a small piece of the puzzle…. This is not making single detached homes illegal. This is just giving people choice.”

Moreover, Moffatt said that the effects of the federal government’s funding will take time to materialize.

“I don’t think we’re going to see much in the way of increased infill in our cities for at least a couple of years, just because of the speed that all of these things move. These kinds of reforms take time, which is not ideal — we are in a housing crisis,” he said.

Homebuilders, who have long complained that unnecessary opposition and lengthy approvals drive up costs and can derail projects, have been more enthused about the changes.

“However, the advice is to prioritize the broader community’s needs and not let fear of backlash affect decision-making,” he said.

In Calgary, any backlash may have to wait for the next municipal election. Efforts by some councillors to bring the decision on the rezoning directly to the people through a plebiscite were defeated twice in council.

“This was the longest public hearing in Calgary’s history — that’s saying something,” said councillor Sonya Sharp, one of five to vote against the rezoning plan. “The people are listening and they want to have their voices heard — on both sides.”