The availability and affordability of housing has reached a crisis point in the province, said the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
No longer an urban issue, this issue now impacts large and small communities across Ontario.
The chamber has released a policy paper, Home Stretched: Tackling Ontario's Housing Affordability Crisis Through Innovative Solutions and Partnerships, offering case studies and opportunities for a spectrum of profit and non-profit players to team up and find innovative ways to address housing affordability and supply.
In the paper, the chamber finds mid-high income earners, who are being priced out of the real estate market, are staying for longer periods in market rental housing, thus hindering movement, reducing vacancies and limiting supply that ultimately extends wait lists of affordable, non-market housing options contributing to homelessness problems.
Housing development has not kept up with the pace of demand, the chamber says, now toss in today's socio-economic pressures from inflation and supply chain challenges that contribute to the cost of construction.
To mitigate the problem, the Ontario government has committed to building 1.5 million new homes by 2031. The chamber responds that meeting this target will require an “all-hands-on-deck approach” by the public, private and non-profit sectors.
All have roles in this to develop an inclusive construction workforce, in championing affordable housing solutions, and promoting “complete communities, the chamber says.
The policy paper highlights some innovative partnerships and approaches now underway across the province that aim to address housing affordability and supply, with policy recommendations to build upon the success of these models.
“The growing mismatch between housing supply and demand in communities across Ontario has made it more difficult for employers to fill labour gaps, particularly as the global competition for talent heats up,” commented Ontario Chamber of Commerce President-CEO Rocco Rossi in a news release.
“To ensure the long-term resilience of our economy, we encourage governments to balance consultation with bold action, such as ending exclusionary zoning and working in partnership with public and private sector partners to address labour shortages.”
The report’s key recommendation are as follows:
- Continue to establish and deliver on inclusive workforce development and immigration strategies to increase the labour pool needed to build more housing.
- Incentivize the development and preservation of affordable housing options along the continuum, including purpose-built rentals, missing middle, student, non-profit, cooperative, and supportive housing.
- Support the development and expansion of innovative technologies, data tools, retrofitting, building conversions, as well as mixed-use and climate-resilient green housing.
