After the City of Regina overhauled how it issues building permits, the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) has ranked it first in the country for having municipal processes that keep housing affordable.
“It’s about continuous improvement for us and continuing to work with industry and find ways to make it easier for our clients who are coming in… to help spur economic development,” Diana Hawryluk, Regina’s executive director of city planning and community development, told Global News.
The CHBA website page dedicated to the Benchmark Study results released on Wednesday says keeping housing and housing prices affordable continues be a challenge across the country.
“A major part of the price is the cost to develop and build,” states the CHBA website page.
The study was undertaken in late 2019 and early 2020, looking at how things like application approval timelines, government fees and planning features to help developers make successful submissions contribute to housing affordability in 23 Canadian cities.
Regina rated first overall for application approval timelines, ninth for keeping government fees low and 11th for planning features.
In the summer of 2019, Regina undertook its Building Permits and Inspections Service Review following complaints from frustrated developers.
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Regina, which has long concurrently reviewed planning documents with building permits, introduced new software to allow for electronic applications to be revised by various city departments simultaneously.
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“We’re still undertaking even more improvements,” Hawryluk said.
Other initiatives include clarifying neighbourhood plans to provide more clarity for planning purposes, having engineering studies that support city growth and collaboration with the local home builders’ association on servicing agreements, development levies and intensification fees.
“It’s the whole spectrum of how developers go through the processes because the easier the processes are to understand, then hopefully they’ll be less costly because it will be very clear what they need to do upfront to move their developments through,” Hawryluk said, “which will ultimately save money at the end for the homeowner or renter.”
“They want those certainties when they’re investing and that’s really what part of this was. All of that contributes to how affordability comes into play in all municipalities,” Hawryluk said.
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