Inclusionary Zoning for Affordable Housing Study

Why is Inclusionary Zoning Important?

The City is growing. We know that it can be a challenging to find affordable housing within Mississauga. In 2020, we saw that:

70% of households couldn't purchase any type of housing without spending >30% of their household income.

Only 10% of the population could afford a detached dwelling with an average price of over $1.2 Million.

Renter households are having difficulty finding housing that suits their needs.


The cost of housing continues to rise. The cost of housing continues to rise.

We've also seen how this affects the City's ability to balance growth, support the workforce and achieve complete communities.

Since the adoption of Making Room for the Middle – A Housing Strategy for Mississauga in 2017, the City has been working collaboratively with the Region of Peel to develop tools to improve housing affordability in Mississauga.

Inclusionary Zoning is one such tool.

It allows the City to require a portion of new units in future developments located in protected major transit areas to be provided at affordable rates. Inclusionary Zoning could help to bring more affordable housing units to the City over the long term.


Stay Involved

Sign-up Stay up-to-date on all things related to the project by subscribing above to stay informed.

If you wish to mail your comments, please send them to:

Catherine Parsons, City Planning Strategies, 7th FL - Planning and Building, City of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Dr, Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1.

Why is Inclusionary Zoning Important?

The City is growing. We know that it can be a challenging to find affordable housing within Mississauga. In 2020, we saw that:

70% of households couldn't purchase any type of housing without spending >30% of their household income.

Only 10% of the population could afford a detached dwelling with an average price of over $1.2 Million.

Renter households are having difficulty finding housing that suits their needs.


The cost of housing continues to rise. The cost of housing continues to rise.

We've also seen how this affects the City's ability to balance growth, support the workforce and achieve complete communities.

Since the adoption of Making Room for the Middle – A Housing Strategy for Mississauga in 2017, the City has been working collaboratively with the Region of Peel to develop tools to improve housing affordability in Mississauga.

Inclusionary Zoning is one such tool.

It allows the City to require a portion of new units in future developments located in protected major transit areas to be provided at affordable rates. Inclusionary Zoning could help to bring more affordable housing units to the City over the long term.


Stay Involved

Sign-up Stay up-to-date on all things related to the project by subscribing above to stay informed.

If you wish to mail your comments, please send them to:

Catherine Parsons, City Planning Strategies, 7th FL - Planning and Building, City of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Dr, Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1.

Q&A

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  • Why are you not building more family size rental units both apartment and townhouse style - families can't live in these 700 sq ft condos. Also authorize more builders to build single family houses in the 1200-2400 sq ft size, most can't afford the 4000 sq ft homes that are being built everywhere.

    bev asked almost 2 years ago

    Thank you for your comments. 

  • Resident Input and Location of these new residents. In my area you are building a new apartment building to add to two that already exist on Lolitia Gardens and townhouse units at Cawthra and Silvercreek. Because of Covid they conveniently used a traffic study from years ago. Construction is not even underway and traffic in this area is horrendous. First the number of cars trying too left turn onto Silvercreek fill up the 4 turning lane places and continue to the lights and even blocking the left lane trying to get into the turning lane, once you turn traffic is halted again by cars trying to turn into the No Frills plaza who block the traffic trying to go through because this is only a two car turning lane barely the 4 ft away we have another two lane turning lane onto Lolita Gardens which has two apartment buildings and one condo not to mention the number of family dwellings all trying to turn again blocking traffic. Yet the city has done nothing and no updated traffic study has been required. If this is how the City of Mississauga will be handling adding additional housing it is time to move. Also will apartment building be going up on Mississauga Road or the more affluent areas of Mississauga? I think not but I will wait and see how the Mayor and Councillors handle this as in my area a majority of residents were against the building of another apartment building but our voices were obviously silence and this was passed lets see if the residents of Lorne Park, Mississauga Rd and other affluent neighborhoods are treated the same dismissiveness.

    Gail Novack asked about 1 year ago

    Thank you for your comments. 

  • How will the City determine who gets access to an IZ unit?

    lgsantos asked over 1 year ago

    Thanks for your question. The City and Region are currently working on this aspect of IZ, which includes establishing eligibility rules and the process by which unit occupants will be selected. More information will be available in the coming months. Please continue to check back on the project page. 

  • Will it be for rent or buy to own ?

    Priscilla asked about 2 years ago

    There may be both rental units and ownership units available through the IZ program.

  • What defines "affordable housing"? The only housing that is actually affordable these days is subsidized housing. What most governments call "affordable" isn't affordable to those that actually need it. Instead of $1,000,000 for a house, what would the government deem to be "affordable"? $500,000? Still too much for almost all of those people who make less than $80,000 in combined family income or who don't have huge amounts of savings. Houses which cost $250,000 to $300,000 and are also protected from insane bidding wars are much closer to being "affordable" for most who don't have the luxury of having a great income or multiple lines of income. I am the lone income earner in my household and would not be able to afford a house/mortgage beyond about $300,000 without going bankrupt or making far too many cut backs which could compromise essentials and basic needs.

    AdamMississauga55 asked about 2 years ago

    The City of Mississauga recognizes how challenging it is for our low and middle income households to afford to live in Mississauga.  That’s why we’re looking at a range of tools to address housing affordability, including Inclusionary Zoning (IZ).

    Affordable housing is typically defined as housing for which the purchase price or rent results in annual accommodation costs which do not exceed 30 percent of gross annual household income. 

    Depending on the housing program, governments will target specific segments of the population and establish price and rent maximums according to who the housing program is intending to assist.  Our intended focus with the IZ initiative is middle-income households, but it’s possible that the IZ program could yield units for low-income households. 

    For homeownership, middle-income households earn approximately $61,000 to $144,000 in gross annual household income. The maximum home purchase price a middle-income household can afford in 2022 is currently $460,000.   Middle-income renter households earn $35,000 to $67,000 and can afford a maximum monthly rent of $1,670 in 2022. These numbers are likely to be updated soon as we await new household income data from Census Canada.

    Where IZ applies, the developer will be required to set aside a certain percentage of units that are available to qualified middle income households at the affordable rate. Units will most likely be assigned through an application process. Restrictions will be placed on title to ensure that the units remain affordable over time.

     

  • Does the city/region also use this sort of strategy for subsidized housing as some other communities do? If no, why not? If yes, would new developments have both social housing and IZ? Condominium buildings already have challenges between owners and renters. Will the policy framework address the issue of neighbour resistance (NIMBYism) that can occur before or after developments are completed? If there were costs to developers beyond the value of any incentives offered, is the developer community currently well positioned or not-well positioned to assume such a financial cost given the state of the marketplace. (ie. Have their revenues been rising faster than their costs or vice versa?)

    WmPitcher asked over 2 years ago

    Currently, social housing is offered through the Region of Peel and other community housing providers (e.g., non-profit housing providers). Inclusionary Zoning is anticipated to target middle-income households, who make too much to qualify for social housing programs but are still struggling to find affordable housing in Mississauga given their income. 

    The goal of Inclusionary Zoning is to promote social integration. Staff will be seeking input from community members to understand and address concerns around affordable housing, and this feedback will be incorporated into the policy framework.

    The financial feasibility analysis completed by NBLC on behalf of the Region of Peel and the local municipal governments identified areas in the City where developers can / cannot reasonably absorb an IZ policy. The Inclusionary Zoning policy framework will be guided by the financial feasibility analysis, with the objective of ensuring developers are still motivated to build. It is also important to keep in mind that the reduced revenues or “costs” of Inclusionary Zoning will result in downward pressures on land value. A developer will not pay the same price for land if there are, for example, extra costs of environmental clean-up, and the same can be said for the impact of an Inclusionary Zoning requirement on the price the developer is willing to pay for the land. 

Page last updated: 10 Feb 2023, 11:55 AM