Mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe releases housing policy plan: more homes, less 'red tape'

If re-elected as Ottawa mayor on Oct. 26, Mark Sutcliffe says he will reconvene the Housing Innovation Task Force he launched in 2025 "to continue its work." Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

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If re-elected as mayor of the City of Ottawa, Mark Sutcliffe says he will approve 75,000 more homes for construction and cut the bureaucratic red tape responsible for slowing housing construction in Ottawa.

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Sutcliffe’s three-part plan, released Friday, Sept. 25, outlines his vision to build more by using public lands the city already owns and improving developer accountability.

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“With Ottawa’s population projected to grow by 500,000 people in the next 25 years, we must do more,” Sutcliffe’s housing policy plan reads.

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If re-elected on Oct. 26, Sutcliffe says, he will reconvene the Housing Innovation Task Force he launched in 2025 “to continue its work.”

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With an expanded membership, the task force would review and measure the results of the 53 recommendations approved in 2025 while also “recommending new options to streamline and accelerate housing approvals.”

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The plan will explore the use of AI for the task force, with Sutcliffe’s plan saying he will consult with other municipalities already using that technology as part of the development review process to speed up approvals “while maintaining a rigorous, human-led review and approval process.”

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“Currently, the city’s consultation process is difficult for renters, families and young people to participate in,” the plan reads. “I will task the (task force) to develop strategies that ensure that our consultation process is easier to navigate, more accessible and more constructive in soliciting community feedback.”

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The incumbent candidate’s plan also includes a proposal for financing new infrastructure. He says he will work with the federal and provincial governments to “explore options advancing public-backed loans and creative financial instruments such as Credit-Tenant Lease arrangements, for moving forward on public infrastructure that enables development, with those loans to be repaid by future growth revenue.”

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More homes by 2030

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Sutcliffe’s plays says he will also build 10,000 new affordable homes by 2030, using a mix of federal, provincial and private funding sources, in addition to approving the construction of the other 75,000 homes.

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To incentivize the building of new homes, Sutcliffe says he will create “opportunity zones” by reducing municipal fees on new buildings “where doing so will spur on the kind of development that we need as a city.”

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“When the Development Charge Reduction Program expires, I will also shift how development charges are collected and applied, ensuring that suburban development is paying for all the services needed for growth and urban infill development is better encouraged by cutting DCs downtown,” the housing policy document reads.