Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) is hosting a free online housing summit Sept. 24 that will feature industry professionals, stakeholders and political leaders addressing what actions must be taken to tackle the crisis.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack is scheduled to speak, along with CMHC senior economist Ted Tsiakopoulos, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario president and CEO Tony Irwin and Toronto Regional Real Estate Board chief market analyst Jason Mercer.
Housing Summit 5.0 – Embracing Transformation: Building Homes Faster will run from noon to 4:30 p.m.
Click here to register.
“This summit is extremely timely because housing starts have cratered in large part due to a perfect storm of excessive taxation, fees and levies,” said RESCON president Richard Lyall. “We have the worst level of new home and condo sales in a generation and are staring into the abyss. I don’t think people realize the seriousness of the situation.
“Developers and builders are laying off employees and skilled trades and tenders are being delayed or scaled back.”
Cumbersome planning approvals processes, restrictive regulatory policies and red tape have created an environment where it is impossible for builders to build homes people can afford, Lyall said. In Ontario starts in the first seven months of 2025 fell 25 per cent compared to the same period last year. Forecasts suggest starts may go even lower.
A recent Toronto City Council staff report highlighted a “substantial shortfall” in anticipated Municipal Land Transfer Tax revenue during the first few months of this year. Twenty years ago, the housing cost to income ratio in Canada was 4:1 but it is now more than 9:1 in Ontario.
“To say the situation is bad would be an understatement. It’s like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion,” Lyall said. “Our economic future depends on what happens with the residential construction industry. We need immediate, urgent action to spur new homebuilding. I am hopeful our housing summit will spark ideas, discussions and action to boost supply.”
Sponsors of the event are LiUNA Local 183, Enbridge, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario, Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and EBS Global.