Source Feed: City of Ottawa News Releases
Author: City of Ottawa - Media Relations / Ville d'Ottawa - Relations avec les médias
Publication Date: January 29, 2025 - 18:24
Council approves housing taskforce to reduce red tape and encourage more builds
January 29, 2025
Council today approved developing a new housing taskforce that will evaluate ideas to advance housing projects and reduce approval times for development applications. Staff will report back to a joint meeting of the Planning and Housing Committee and the Finance and Corporate Services Committee later this year with the results of their research, recommendations and opportunities for early adoption.
Council directed staff to develop a new public-facing dashboard showing:
- The average time it takes to get an application approved
- The number of approvals so far this year
- The number of homes being built in Ottawa
- Enhancing the role of Build Ottawa in housing innovation
- Accelerating disposal of City land for innovative housing models
- Discounting long-term leases on City-owned lands
- Exploring the viability of lease-to-own models for attainable housing, vendor take-back mortgages, issuance of bonds and other potential financial tools for developments on City land
- Streamlining the urban design review process
- Accelerating development approvals
- Using new technologies to speed up Building Code reviews
- Fast-tracking non-profit affordable housing projects and pre-zoning City land for affordable housing
- Speeding up development approvals for federal surplus lands in the Canada Public Land Bank or lands close to existing servicing that could be developed quickly
- Creating a program for deferring development charges
- Encouraging innovation around Transit Oriented Development
- Working with other levels of government to replace growth revenue
- Dissolving the Light Rail Sub-Committee and renaming the Transit Commission to the Transit Committee
- Renaming the Transportation Committee the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee
- Bringing revised terms of reference for the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and the Finance and Corporate Services Committee back to Council for approval later this year
- Reducing the frequency of standing committee meetings to six regular meetings per year, excepting the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, the Built Heritage Committee and the Planning and Housing Committee, which will generally continue with current schedules to meet statutory timelines
- Updating various matters related to advisory bodies, local boards and governance-related by-laws and policies
- Appointing Councillor David Brown as Chair of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
- Appointing Councillor Alan Hubley as Vice-Chair of the Audit Committee
- Appointing Councillor Steve Desroches as Vice-Chair of the Transit Committee
What prompted the anger (and, in a few cases, startling claims CBC was engaged in 'treason,' 'sedition' and 'betrayal') were two things: the program title and the proposed question to the audience.
February 24, 2025 - 05:00 | | CBC News - Canada
The Citizen invited Ottawa candidates from the four major provincial parties to explain why you should vote for them. Those who met our deadlines and protocols will be published this week and next. Today: Carleton riding Liberal candidate Brandon Bay. Read More
February 24, 2025 - 04:15 | Christina Spencer, Ottawa Citizen | Ottawa Citizen
Advocates for seniors’ health have been watching with alarm as the numbers of Ottawa seniors without primary care grow. It is a worsening problem that requires greater attention than it has been getting, says Carolyn Inch. Read More
February 24, 2025 - 04:00 | Elizabeth Payne | Ottawa Citizen
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