RESCON: Where will people live?

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There are no easy solutions when it comes to solving the housing supply shortage.

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There was a lot of talk during the federal election campaign about the housing crisis we face in this country, and I am hopeful that the conversation will continue beyond the hearings and lead to concrete action.

The Liberals pledged to speed up home construction, build or repair up to 1.4 million homes over the next four years, and invest in electronic permitting technology to help communities streamline the planning process.

However, it was correctly pointed out at various points during the campaign that no single level of government can effect significant change on its own. The federal government has levers that it can apply to produce housing, but to move the needle it will also need the province, regions and municipalities on the side.

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When it comes to dealing with barriers to the housing and development approval process, there is a maze of problems.

Housing is an incredibly complex industry, perhaps the most regulated of our industries. We have hundreds of contractors, tens of thousands of workers, many different types of materials, and a development approval process that includes up to 45 different government agencies, ministries, and organizations.

Without this alignment at the provincial, regional and municipal levels, and with the various actors involved in the process at each level, it will be difficult to make progress.

Some of the housing numbers that floated in the election campaign just weren’t achievable. There is no way to suddenly turn on the tap and produce hundreds of thousands of additional housing units.

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We are not producing enough as it is. I don’t think the party leaders were intentionally misleading the public, but the huge numbers indicated the fact that they don’t really understand the industry and are making policy on the fly.

The situation is dire and action is needed. The time required to navigate the approvals process is excessive by any comparable measure. Canada ranked 64th out of 190 countries when it comes to building permits, according to the World Bank. Projects stall for years due to bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the supply chain is a mess.

Currently, we cannot build enough housing for our current population. With immigration set at 400,000 a year for the next several years, where are these people going to live?

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Reports commissioned by RESCON have shown that the delays are increasing. Other reports recently completed by the Board of Trade and the CD Howe Institute highlight the threat to Toronto’s future economic prospects.

It is a very disturbing situation but it can be fixed. There is no good reason why we can’t speed up the approval process and start meeting demand. The builders are tough. If you give them the tools, they will meet the challenge. We need to modernize and digitize the approval process in order to find market equilibrium again.

RESCON is considering hosting a Housing Supply Summit in February to bring different levels of government, industry and opinion leaders to the table to find a way to produce more homes. Housing is a need, not a desire. We must find a way to build more houses. Our economic future depends on it.

Richard Lyall, President of RESCON, has represented the construction industry in Ontario since 1991. Contact him at [email protected].