Ontario Housing Minister Steve Clark says he won’t backtrack on his government’s decision to eliminate rent controls on units let for the first time after Nov. 15, 2018, despite reports of double-digit rent increases potentially forcing some Toronto residents out of their homes.

The Progressive Conservative government has walked back some of its initial policies on autism funding, education and environmental protections. But in a year-end interview on Wednesday, Clark stood by the government’s decision to permit higher densities in nodes such as Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, where residents and city officials fear rampant development will threaten livability.

He also defended the elimination of rent control on new units, saying it is spurring the construction of new purpose-built rentals.

“We decided we would protect and preserve rent control for existing tenants. That was a promise that was made during the election. But we needed to deal with supply,” he said. “We had a housing supply problem.”

Earlier in the day, Clark released a new guide to co-ownership housing, the fourth in a series on home ownership meant to help consumers looking for innovative solutions as they confront a scarce-supply, high-cost housing market. The other guides are about building secondary suites and tiny houses, and life-lease housing.

Clark pointed to the research of other agencies as proof the government’s approach to the rental supply problem is working. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported in September there were 3,630 Toronto rental housing starts this year to date — the most since 1993 when there were 3,636. The same month, RBC said purpose-built rental completions had hit a 25-year high of 4,300 units. But, even with condo rentals included, that was less than half the additional homes needed.

In October, market research firm Urbanation said Toronto has seen the highest number of apartment completions in 25 years at 3,157, but rental starts were down 47 per cent this year.

The rent control policy came in the wake of reports in 2017 that developers were abandoning plans to build rentals in favour of condos because of an expansion of rent controls that year by the previous Liberal government, Clark said. The Liberals extended rent increase restrictions to buildings constructed after 1991 that were previously exempt from the rules.

A private member’s bill announced earlier this month by NDP tenant rights critic Suze Morrison to restore rent controls on new units would be the third change to rent controls in as many years, Clark said.

“I don’t want to go back. We continue to need to deal with supply,” Clark said.

He also rejected the idea of separating out Toronto’s complex and troubled rental landscape within the provincial Residential Tenancies Act.

“We’re ensuring there are enough adjudicator resources available for the Landlord and Tenant Board. In terms of providing two sets of rules, that would be difficult and I don’t want to create any false hope that a dual system would be in everybody’s best interest. Certainly on the Landlord and Tenant piece I would put my resources in making the existing system more responsive,” he said.

The province appointed 12 new full-time and one part-time adjudicator to the Landlord and Tenant Board between January and October, to help deal with a growing backlog of disputes over no-fault evictions and “renovictions” — the abuse of a law that lets landlords force tenants out during renovations, according to an email to Star reporter Emily Mathieu. Rents average about $2,500 a month in Toronto and the vacancy rate sits at about one per cent. About three per cent is considered a healthy vacancy rate.

Clark insisted the province has done “a tremendous job in working with municipalities,” particularly on issues such as transit. He said he sympathized with residents enduring construction disruption in places such as the rapidly developing Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue neighbourhood. But the government has to leverage its transit investments.

“I still believe we’ll have an extremely livable city that will be the envy in North America and abroad,” he said.

He made no apologies for throwing out Toronto’s extensive TOcore and Midtown in Focus reports that had recommended less density for those areas, saying greater intensification around transit stations aligns with the government’s other growth policies.

Clark said regulations for changes to the Planning Act under Bill 108, the government’s More Homes, More Choice legislation, will likely be available in the first quarter of the new year.

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The regulations are anxiously awaited by Toronto planners and politicians, who say that new provisions by which developers help pay for community infrastructure and services will determine whether the city can afford to build the amenities to serve residents in those new towers.

Clark said he has allowed long consultation periods and municipalities can be assured their suggestions have been taken into account, that “growth should pay for growth and you should be able to have certainty around revenue sources for both hard and soft services.”

“We still believe that the concept of going to a community benefits charge will still build parks, still build libraries, still build that community infrastructure,” he said.