City building | March 1, 2023
Today, Council approved Growing Mississauga, the City’s comprehensive action plan for new housing.
The plan includes five goals and 23 actions designed to increase the supply of housing, streamline development and building approvals and improve affordability. The plan also details where private sector and government support is necessary to meet the accelerated pace of development.
“With this new plan, the City of Mississauga is once again sending a clear message: We welcome growth and are ready to get more housing built for everyone who wants to call Mississauga home,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “Growing Mississauga demonstrates the City’s commitment to taking action on housing. It also shows our willingness to work with the provincial government to help meet their 1.5 million new homes goal over 10 years and with our industry partners who are ultimately responsible for getting the homes built. Our goal is to ensure that as we grow, Mississauga continues to be a place where families want to live, work and raise a family for generations to come.”
Growing Mississauga builds on the success of the City’s previous housing plans which have positioned Mississauga to meet the province’s 2051 growth target, helped improve housing affordability, streamlined approval processes and led to the issuance of a record number of building permits in 2022.
“Increasing housing supply and affordability has been a long-standing priority for Mississauga, particularly over the last decade as we’ve navigated the transition from our suburban roots to a thriving urban city,” said Andrew Whittemore, Commissioner of Planning and Building. “So while some cities are just getting started on this journey, we’ve been actively planning for intensive growth for many years.”
Whittemore added: “As a result of these efforts, Mississauga is well positioned to accommodate about 246,000 new residential units – more than the 120,000 provincial housing target – but doing so will require significant and accelerated infrastructure investments. It will also require the development community to commit to funding and building the housing the City approves. We cannot do this alone and our plan is contingent on support from the federal and provincial governments, as well as the development industry.”
Increasing Housing Supply
Mississauga issued building permits for more than 6,400 units in 2022 – a record for the City. Over the next four years, the City will take actions to continue to increase housing supply, such as:
Streamlining Processes
Mississauga uses a full suite of tools to get housing built more quickly and was the first city in Canada to offer an online approvals system for building permits and development applications. The following actions will continue the City’s commitment to streamlining processes and improving customer service:
Improving Affordability
When launched in 2017, Mississauga’s Making Room for the Middle housing strategy was one of the first of its kind in Canada. Today, 90 per cent of the strategy’s actions are complete or underway but there is more work to do. Growing Mississauga includes the following actions to improve housing affordability:
Making it Happen
Increasing the pace of development in Mississauga will require considerable new funding to accelerate major infrastructure, such as transit, to support the growth. Growing Mississauga includes the following actions to make it happen:
As we grow Mississauga, the City is committed to working with the community and our stakeholders to plan and build responsibly. Growing Mississauga includes actions to help educate residents on housing issues and expand online planning engagement tools. It also recommends establishing a housing panel made up of key stakeholders to help implement the plan.
More Information
Background
The Province has recently passed several pieces of legislation with the goal of getting more homes built, including Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. Bill 23 sets a goal of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario over the next decade. In support of this goal, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has issued Municipal Housing Targets to cities across Ontario and is requiring a corresponding Municipal Housing Pledge. The City of Mississauga’s Municipal Housing Target is 120,000 new units.
Mississauga City Council have endorsed Growing Mississauga as the City’s Municipal Housing Pledge.
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City of Mississauga Media Relations
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