The Ontario government is moving forward with regulatory changes designed to speed up office-to-residential conversions.

The move comes after Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government voted down a similar proposal, put forward by Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon, in October.

McCrimmon’s original proposal, Bill 201, sought to amend the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) to remove restrictions based on building height, a change aimed at cutting red tape for developers. Although the government rejected her bill, it has now proposed a similar regulatory change through the environment ministry that seeks the same goals as Bill 201.

“I was disappointed when the government voted down my bill, but I’m happy to see that they recognize it was a good idea,” McCrimmon said in a statement. “This was a simple change that the housing industry needed, and I’m glad that I could bring it to the government’s attention.”

She had contended that there was no reason for the government to vote her proposed bill down because the Ontario Real Estate Association and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, were among the groups that voiced strong support for it.

The government’s proposed changes include removing the requirement for a record of site condition when converting office buildings over six storeys into mixed-use or residential developments. This change, as noted in the proposal, would allow taller buildings, such as office towers, to be retrofitted with residential units without undergoing lengthy environmental reviews, provided there is no evidence of contamination, according to the report.

McCrimmon developed her original bill in collaboration with city planners, who identified these regulations as “a common barrier to building conversions,” she said.

OREA said previously that McCrimmon’s proposal “would encourage converting underused commercial property into housing,” said OREA in a statement.

OSPE echoed this sentiment, stating: “The conversion of commercial to residential buildings is of the utmost importance when looking at the current landscape of real estate here in Ontario. This regulatory barrier is arbitrary and creates further difficulties in converting commercial buildings into residential homes.”

The government’s proposed changes are still in a comment period and cannot be enacted until January. If implemented as expected, they could significantly reduce the time and costs associated with office-to-residential conversions, potentially accelerating the development of new housing units in urban centres.

“At a time when there is critical need for residential housing, and commercial vacancy is still very high, barriers prevent the conversion of previously commercial buildings to residential use,” said McCrimmon.

The regulatory changes are part of Ontario’s broader efforts to address the province’s housing crisis by unlocking opportunities for redevelopment and creating a more efficient path to deliver new homes.

But it remains to be seen whether the proposed changes will prompt developers to launch more office-to-residential conversions. Ontario developers, particularly those operating in Toronto, have been cool to the idea while citing high costs, technical difficulties associated with conversions and other factors.