Windsor needs more work on zoning, advocate says in wake of housing decision

Windsor is "well within its rights" to refuse to make zoning changes that could make the city eligible for millions in federal housing cash, but experts and advocates say the move could affect the city meeting housing targets and increasing affordability.

"Windsor's having a challenge right now," said Mike Moffatt, the executive director of the Place Institute at the University of Ottawa, which examines housing issues.

"If we look at the housing targets that the Ford government has set, the latest data shows that Windsor's only at about 32 per cent of where they need to be on on those targets, one of the lower municipalities in Ontario," he said.

"Part of addressing those challenges is, is rezoning and allowing more by right and that's not necessarily just fourplexes, but that's missing middle apartment buildings near transit stops and those kinds of things."

Windsor council on Wednesday night opted not to alter its application to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund over a condition from Ottawa that the city allow four units by right on every residential property in the city.

What that means is that by default, as many as four residential units could be allowed on nearly any residential lot — with no mechanism for public consultation or council control.

Windsor currently allows three units by right in the city, and had identified zones in the city where four units would be permitted, based on infrastructure like transit.

Council's decision not to go along with the four-unit condition likely means the door has been closed on between $40 million and $70 million in federal housing funding. But councillors said they were concerned about traffic, congestion, demands on infrastructure and the rushed timeline of the decision.

Moffatt says that allowing four units by right as long as builders meet the other standard requirements, like parking and setbacks, isn't much different than building other types of homes.

"With the rules that the federal government is suggesting, as long as you conform to all of the other rules that exist … you should be allowed to build a fourplex as of right," Moffatt said. "The same way that you could build a McMansion as of right.

"Basically have equality across housing types."

Such deals can be contentious, Moffatt acknowledged, because the conditions are not generally something municipalities would have done anyways: It's a quid pro quo to get access to the money.

But, he says, Windsor could still stand to do more on zoning because of the targets set by the provincial government. Windsor has committed to building 13,000 homes by 2031.

Windsor city hall pictured in an August 2023 file photo. (Dax Melmer/CBC)

Windsor councillors said during the discussion Wednesday night they felt the process was rushed, as the government asked for a decision back before the holidays — necessitating the special meeting Wednesday.

Moffatt says the haste is warranted — but fourplexes aren't likely to spring up overnight.

"What the federal government is asking of the city can be implemented fairly quickly and that doesn't mean that fourplexes are going to be built right away," he said. "Even if if Windsor said tomorrow,' OK, yeah, as of right across the city,' you probably wouldn't get your first one of these for a couple of years or more."

Mayor Drew Dilkens in a November 2023 file photo. (Dale Molnar/CBC)

On Thursday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said it is ultimately the federal government's decision as to deny Windsor's application based on council's decision.

"At the end of the day we've expressed our opinion. We want to do something that is fair reasonable and sensible to the residents here but I think it also has to be fair and recognize people who own homes in the city who may have lived here their whole lives and may have bought a home in a neighbourhood because of the quality of life and surroundings," Dilkens said.

"For us to wholesale say, we don't mind if a fourplex is built next to you, I think that's disrespectful to people and neighbourhoods throughout the city ... I'm hoping the federal government respects the decisions of the City of Windsor.

Council decision a 'step in the wrong direction:' Realtors

The Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors released a statement Thursday opposing council's decision.

Permitting four-units as-of-right is a common sense policy proposal that would encourage more infill gentle density, increase housing options and provide more affordable units in our city," said executive officer Krista Gionet in a statement, urging the city  that it was "not the time to cave into NIMBY forces."

"When so many cities across Canada are moving ahead with four units as-of-right, council's decision last night is a step in the wrong direction on housing affordability."

Brent Klundert is the chair of the Windsor-Essex Homebuilders Association. He says they're seeing an uptick in the demand for three-unit projects.

"I think that people are looking for affordable solutions and however they're getting to that affordability is a lot of times it's through density," he said.

"So I think that you're going to see more of them, as there's more more plans, more construction drawings out there that kind of fulfil the need. I think you will see more of those come to fruition."

He said that while cities will each determine what makes sense for their communities, the overall focus in addressing the housing supply needs to be on cutting red tape.

Brent Klundert, vice president BK Cornerstone design and build and chair of the Windsor Essex Homebuilders Association, in a 2018 file photo. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)

"It's been very flashy 'we're going to cut the tape, we're going to cut the red tape,' he said. "There is still so much red tape that is involved with building houses and increasing that supply.

"At the end of the day, the focus still has to be on what is the absolute necessities of red tape involved with building and how do we eliminate a lot of the white noise that's behind there and get rid of it so that we can build these subdivisions, these higher density projects can get to fruition quicker."