Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) says the provincial government’s Housing or Everyone plan is a good first step to address the housing supply crisis.
“For decades, previous provincial governments and successive municipal governments made it more difficult, expensive and time-consuming to build new housing,” said Dave Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD. “The market conditions we are seeing now are the result of these decisions coming home to roost, at the expense of families looking to buy or rent a home in the GTA.
“The consequences of these decisions will push many prospective home buyers out of the region in search of housing they can afford and will affect the GTA’s overall competitiveness. With the steps introduced today, building on the Housing Supply Action Plan of 2019, this government is enabling the region to turn a corner on supply and address the generational challenges being faced by the GTA.”
Currently, it takes 10 years to complete a high-rise and 11 years to complete a low-rise project in the GTA. Enabling additional supply will begin to address the imbalance between supply and demand in the housing market, decreasing price escalation pressures, increasing choice and beginning to address affordability challenges.
BILD suggest the following measures:
- Address costs municipal governments layer onto new homes, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of each new unit.
- Zoning must also be revisited, as in most municipalities it is far too restrictive, preventing the addition of gentle density across the cities and towns of the GTA
- Current inclusionary zoning policies are out of step with best practices and will force purchasers of new homes to subsidize affordable housing units—a clear abdication of municipal government responsibilities.
[…] Provincial housing bill a good first step but not enough: BILD […]