When Karen Chapple, the director of University of 色色啦’s School of Cities, heard that 色色啦 city council had walked back a proposal to legalize sixplexes across 色色啦 鈥斕electing instead to legalize it only in nine wards听鈥听she saw another barrier to a city push on density听that has, so far, seen paltry uptake.
The push was part of a years-long effort that’s seen the city green-light other housing forms from听multiplexes to backyard suites in areas听historically restricted to detached and semi-detached homes.
But despite being able to build multiplexes of up to four units across the city, that initiative only led to about 450 approved permits and 750 net new housing units in the 13 months after they were legalized. Chapple argues that limited uptake is听one reason to open the door even wider.
“People are not actually building ‘plexes right and left,” she said, noting the steep costs of developing a multiplex as one barrier. “So the city is going to have to make it as easy as possible to build to get any activity at all.”听
Instead, the sixplex proposal ran into old divides in听a city听fundamentally split on many issues between its urban and suburban areas.听
Aside from a single Scarborough ward where sixplexes were already being piloted, Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York were ultimately removed from the legalization plan in order to pass the changes in old 色色啦 and East York听鈥 with an option for those areas to opt-in to legalization at a later date.
Councillors for hours听on Wednesday debated how to best make that patchwork approach work. A motion from Coun. Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale鈥High Park) requested that city staff ensure the nine wards agreeing to legalize sixplexes had the services like street sweeping that they needed while accepting more density.
It鈥檚 a directive Coun. Brad Bradford (Ward 19, Beaches 鈥 East York) tried to convince councillors to remove, suggesting it was going down a bad path to suggest that adding sixplexes would require more upkeep like street sweeping, and draw further divides between wards with differing service levels.
But Coun. Shelley Carroll (Ward 17, Don Valley North) questioned if some wards were willing to make “this massive leap on behalf of the rest of us,” should they not receive some level of additional support?听
“I think it perpetuates this divide of different levels of services in different parts of the city, and I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 helpful,” Bradford said.
Council听was split, with Bradford鈥檚 motion failing to pass with 11 councillors in support and 12 opposed.
The watered-down legalization, which allowed sixplexes as-of-right in nine wards with the directive to ensure services like street sweeping were in place there, passed with 18 councillors in favour and opposition remaining from six听鈥 the councillors for Etobicoke North, Etobicoke Centre, Scarborough Southwest, York Centre, Humber River 鈥 Black Creek and Scarborough Centre.
Hanging overhead was the threat of lost funding, with the citywide sixplex proposal one condition of a $471-million housing deal between city hall and the federal government. A March 2025 letter to Chow from former housing minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith warned that if 色色啦 did not “fully implement” its agreed-upon initiatives on time, it could lose 25 per cent of its annual payout 鈥斕a cut city hall says amounts to about听$30 million.听
As of Thursday, the fate of that money remained unclear, with a spokesperson for now-Housing Minister Gregor Robertson saying听that it was 鈥渨orking closely鈥 with 色色啦 city hall to meet its goals, adding its intention was to reward “ambitious housing initiatives” that removed zoning restrictions and red tape.
On Thursday, Coun. Bradford听said听the compromise struck was “not what you want to see.” Discussions about density can be challenging, he said, and required groundwork to find consensus especially in a post-amalgamation city.
“The idea that a neighbourhood is static 鈥 almost encapsuled in amber, or stuck in time, I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 practical or realistic,” he said, arguing cities needed to evolve. “Nothing is static and everything changes.”听
Still, he is sympathetic to the idea that housing rules can vary depending on location. “That鈥檚 been the premise of zoning bylaws since they were created.”
Coun. Parthi Kandavel (Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest), who opposed sixplex permissions in his area, said Thursday while amalgamation was decades past, the difference between 色色啦’s old boroughs were still palpable.
“Whether its two years or 27 years, the built form hasn鈥檛 changed tremendously,” he said. He pointed to density influxes in Scarborough such as the Golden Mile intensification, but argued that further change in lowrise neighbourhoods should come more slowly. “It鈥檚 evolving. We need time,” he said, arguing the impacts of fourplex legalization were still shaking out.
He isn鈥檛 worried about the city having its federal funding yanked because of the walk-back. “Do I think we鈥檙e going to lose the money? Heck no,” he said.
For some 色色啦nians, though, the verdict on Wednesday was disappointing.
Zakerie Farah, a board member with housing advocacy group More Neighbours, said he was disappointed Mayor Olivia Chow didn鈥檛 take a stronger stance to legalize sixplexes citywide, including by using her strong mayor powers.
Having grown up in Etobicoke, Farah said areas historically been dominated by single-family homes need to offer a mix of housing types to be accessible for young families, whose children could populate their local schools.
“It鈥檚 a housing crisis everywhere in the city听鈥 not just a housing crisis downtown.”
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