Ford government under pressure to address housing shortage

Last Thursday, CMHC released forecasts that suggest Ontario’s goal of building 1.5 million homes over the next decade is nowhere near enough to keep pace with population growth.

By 2030, if construction continues at the current rate, the CMHC estimates that the province will be some 1.85 million units short of bringing prices back to 2003-04 levels, when the average home cost $500,000. According to CMHCthe average price of a home in Ontario was $871,000 in 2021.

This situation saddens Jacob Dawang, housing advocate within the organization More Neighbors Toronto. He wants politicians to do more, and much faster.

Either they move too slowly, or many municipalities and local politicians deny the housing supply crisis and do not want to actanalyzes Mr. Dawang.

In response to the report, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday that a lack of supply was a key reason for the housing crisis and that he wanted to focus on finding government properties. vacant or surplus to fix it.

Speaking alongside Toronto Mayor John Tory, Ford called on all governments to do more and work together.

The solutions exist, however, retort several critics of government inaction.

They cite the elimination of exclusionary zoning, which notably prevents the construction of houses on a large part of the territory of Toronto, but also the authorization of developments as of right.

We don’t need more reportsdenounces Mark Richardson, technical manager of the group of volunteers Housing Now TO. We need more housing, and there is a willingness to postpone the requested changes.

Pace too slow

Both Mark Richardson and Jacob Dawang believe that the main obstacles to housing reform in Ontario remain residents’ associations ganging up on major residential intensification projects and politicians who seek to appease these groups out of electoral interest.

” We have to make tough choices. We have to do them now […] and we must be prepared to antagonize the neighbors. »

Housing legislation the government passed shortly before the election lacks key measures such as zoning changes to allow for greater density in certain neighborhoods, which advocates and experts have long called for.

According to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, the municipalities would have indicated to him that they were not ready to receive such measures.

The City of Toronto must, however, find new solutions to accommodate the 70,000 people who move there each year, admitted Mr. Tory, specifying however not to try to upset stable neighborhoods.

For his part, Doug Ford promised that his government would present a very, very aggressive plan to tackle the housing crisis.

Mr Ford created a new post of minister associated with housing and gave Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma an additional mandate to manage government real estate to find land on which to build housing.

Get to the heart of the problem

According to CMHC, the report does not sufficiently address social housing, the impact of income distribution and the types of housing needed in urban centres. She says more research is needed in these areas.

David Hulchanski, professor of housing and community development at the University of Toronto, confirms that these analyzes are more important than ever to get to the root of the housing crisis.

According to him, the report does not address certain market fundamentals such as real estate speculation, inaccessible supply due to short-term rentals, timeshares, tax evasion and money laundering in real estate, as well as than the housing finance structure.

The reality is much more complex than what is presented herewarns the professor.

Based on information from Vanessa Balintec, CBC