Housing starts are down for the first six months of this year and if the trend continues, the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County are on track to miss provincially mandated targets, experts in the industry warn.
The provincial government aims to build 1.5 million new homes in a decade in cities throughout Ontario.
The Peterborough and the Kawarthas Home Builders Association (PKHBA) says the city needs 930 new homes built every year from 2021 to 2031. The association represents the residential construction industry in the city, county and City of Kawartha Lakes.
But at the halfway point of 2023, the association reports only 112 new homes have been built in Peterborough – just over 12 per cent of the goal.
New second-quarter data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that from April to June, the city had 31 single-unit completions and 10 condo and apartment completions. Over that same time period, there were five single-unit starts and 16 condo/apartment starts.
The county had 34 single-unit completions in the second quarter — which included 11 single-unit completions in Selwyn Township, 10 in Otonabee-South. Monaghan Township, four in Douro-Dummer Township and nine in Cavan Monaghan Township. During the second quarter, Selwyn had three single-unit starts and OSM had five starts for single units.
“This year is just a horrible combination of the economic conditions with the interest rates changing,” said Rebecca Schillemat, PKHBA executive officer.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market.”
Comparatively, the neighbouring City of Kawartha Lakes was mandated to complete 430 builds per year. That region has started 312 new units — nearly 73 per cent of its target. During the second quarter, there have been 71 single-unit starts and 53 row build starts.
The City of Peterborough says it has been working to find efficiencies in the development process, such as the creation of Service Peterborough at City Hall. The new one-stop service counter aims to expedite processes such as issuing permits and more as it will enable residents to bring all their inquiries to one site, rather than looking for individuals in a particular department.
Mayor Jeff Leal says it will still be some time before the impact of those initiatives is seen locally.
“There’s a bit of a lag between building permits being issued and the actual construction of new homes,” he said.
And although Peterborough may miss the building target laid out by the province this year, Leal says city staff are facilitating an expected increase in development applications.
“The chief administrative officer, the commissioner of infrastructure and the manager of planning — we have a weekly meeting to monitor the progress of permits being issued and shovels in the ground,” he said. “Can we do more? Absolutely, but I think we are on a much more positive track.”
Mitch Clear, president of the PKHBA, said that based on the current pace, the city will be “nearly 800 units short” of the provincially mandated targets for new residential construction.
“These are targets that are based not just upon mere ambitions but are formed around assessing the housing needs of our rapidly expanding population,” he said.
— with files from Sam Houpt/Global News Peterborough