Housing construction has “slipped” and Ontario is in danger of failing to make its economic and housing goals unless “dramatic steps” are taken, according to a new report.
The report into the province’s attempts to boost the housing supply by the Ontario Real Estate Association found that, after a banner year in 2021, housing starts have slipped.
In 2021, Ontario managed a 30-year high of 100,000 new unit starts, dropping to 96,000 in 2022 and an estimated 90,000 in 2023.
The numbers are higher than in previous decades but well short of the 150,000-per-year average Ontario will need to hit its goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
The decision to aim for 1.5 million homes ahead of the 2022 provincial election came from the Housing Affordability Taskforce, commissioned by the first-term Ford government.
It made a total of 55 high-level recommendations on how to reform planning to tackle the housing crisis, suggestions the province has promised to make central to its housing policies.
The Ontario Real Estate Association found 33 per cent of them (18) have been completed and 16 per cent (nine) have seen “major” progress. It calculated “some” progress had been made on 27 per cent (15), while nothing had been done at all for 24 per cent (13) of the suggestions.
The report found that, in the wake of the Greenbelt scandal, Ontario has stopped to review previous policies and “momentum has recently slowed.”
Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association, urged the province not to stutter in its housing plans.
“This is not the time for any kind of pause — go forward with the plan, implement the rest,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said in a statement the government is “committed to doing what it takes” to build homes as quickly as it can.
“While the last three years have seen Ontario’s highest number of housing starts in the last thirty years, we also recognize there is a need to do more,” they said, teasing new legislation that will lay out the government’s next round of changes to how homes are built in Ontario.
To accelerate housing starts again, the Ontario Real Estate Association pitched changes to tribunals that govern housing appeals in the province, reform land transfer taxes and development fees and increase skilled tradespeople in the province.
The report made a total of 10 recommendations, praising the actions taken by the Ford government on housing between 2018 and 2023 as a “crucial roadmap to building housing” in Ontario
Many of those recommendations, the spokesperson said, are already underway.