RC111 MarApr 2024 - Magazine - Page 41
TORONTO
Housing Supply Summit 3.0 by Grant Cameron
WE ARE AT THE CROSSROADS of an unprecedented generational housing crisis and
governments at all levels must work with
builders on solutions, stated Richard Lyall,
president of the Residential Construction
Council of Ontario (RESCON), at a recent
housing summit hosted by the association.
“There is little value in assessing blame
and pointing 昀椀ngers at this stage or at various levels,” he explained to those attending
the online event. “Our responsibility must be
focused on solutions.
“All levels of government, all private
sector partners, and all housing stakeholders have a role to play. When you get to the
point that the middle class can not a昀昀ord
housing, you know that you have a serious
problem.”
The event was RESCON’s third annual
housing summit. Key players in the housing
sector, real estate stakeholders, industry professionals and municipal leaders addressed
the audience. Ontario Premier Doug Ford
and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow also spoke
at the event.
It was sponsored by the Toronto Regional
Real Estate Board (TRREB), the Federation
of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario, and
Storeys.
Lyall told the audience that stable and
a昀昀ordable housing is of utmost importance
to families and individuals, so solving the
RESCON
Grant Cameron is
senior director of
public affairs at
RESCON.
problem is critical.
“It is the foundation on what all other success in life is based. If you don’t have a safe,
stable, and secure place to call home, it is
very di昀케cult to be a good employee, a good
student, get a start, or be a fully functioning
participating member of society. Housing
is the anchor that allows people to thrive in
their given communities.”
He said RESCON has been sounding the
alarm for many years, and many young and
talented people are now leaving their cities
because they simply can’t 昀椀nd an a昀昀ordable
place to call home.
“We must turn this tide.”
Lyall noted that research done over the
last two decades warned of the approaching
housing crunch and indicated that changes were needed to get more shovels in the
ground.
“We need to densify our built land. We
need to build more housing urgently and
governments must continue to take action to
reduce costs and build housing.”
The good news, according to Lyall, is that
governments at all levels appear to be heeding the message and are increasingly keen
to work on solutions to the problem with
private-sector industry partners.
Builders understand the need to build
more supply and have always delivered
when the chips are down, he said.
“This continued even during the COVID
pandemic when the industry stayed working
by implementing health measures that kept
workers safe and homes being built.”
Marlon Bray of Altus Group said housing
reforms that have been done nationwide are
According to those gathered at RESCON’s third annual
housing summit, all levels of government, private sector
partners, and housing stakeholders have a role to play
in solving the housing crisis.
“haphazard” and consist of just “small bites”
here and there.
“We need a big plan; big reforms and we
need to do them now… we are nibbling at
the edges.”
Bray called for a more co-ordinated approach—one that dovetails more closely with
how the private development sector works
and includes development charge rebates
and property tax deferrals.
Mike Mo昀昀att, senior director of policy and
innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute, said the federal government’s move to
waive the GST on construction of new rental
apartments was a positive step. However,
he argued that it was not enough to signi昀椀cantly move the needle when it comes to
purpose-built rental development, and more
tax reforms are needed.
The tax system isn’t attractive enough for
many projects and often deters apartment
builders from reinvesting in new construction, he said. “What happens is there’s just
fewer apartments built.”
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MARCH/APRIL 2024 – RENEW CANADA 41
