City wants to make it easier to convert offices to housing

Ottawa's office vacancy rate has ballooned while its rental housing market remains tight, and city staff are looking to streamline building conversions to solve both problems at once.

In a report to council's planning and housing committee, they're pitching ideas to save developers time and money on projects to transform office towers into apartments.

That includes cutting fees, which can run as high as $54,015 for some steps in the application process.Staff are also recommending efforts to save paperwork, such as waivingtransportation impact assessments for most conversions.

The report also recommends more flexible zoning rules. Residential and office buildings don't alwayshave the same standards on things like setbacks from other properties,so developers often have to head to committees and seek amendments when they want to change from one to the other.

That can be a costly, time-consuming process. So staff are recommending automatic exemptions in cases where conversion projectsdon't add floors or additions. They also want to relax requirements for amenitieslike patios, gardens or balconies.

City staff hope the ideas will help Ottawa meet its provincial targets to add 151,000 housing units by 2031. A plan to streamline conversionswas initially promised aspart of an action planOttawa submitted to apply for its share of the $4 billion federal Housing Accelerator Fund.

The report doesn't make any explicit recommendations to invest city funds in private conversions.

Stafflooked at a Calgaryincentive that provides up to $15 million to conversion projects, as part of an effort to revitalize that city's downtown. City of Ottawa staff say they can explore incentives further should councillors wish.

Calgary's office vacancy rate is much higher, at more than 30 per cent. Ottawa's is somewhere between 12.5 and 15per cent, depending on the source. That's still well abovewhere it was before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the vacancy rate for residential rentalsis barely over two per cent in Ottawa,according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The federal government is looking to divest itself of potentially millions of square feet in floor space in the National Capital Region, as it targets a 50 per cent reduction in its office holdings. It has already listed Ottawa properties it's hoping to sell, including the two L'Esplanade Laurier towers.