The building of 1.5 million homes is a target that all four major provincial parties agree in striving towards. But is it a realistic goal?
New findings from Smart Prosperity Institute's latest housing report "Ontario's Need for 1.5 Million More Homes" suggest that the goal is not just reasonable, but ideal. According to their calculations, approximately 1.51 million new homes need to be built for the province to reach the average housing supply levels in the rest of Canada.
“The goal to build 1.5 million homes is the right one.” - Dr. Mike Moffatt, Senior Director of Policy at Smart Prosperity Institute and lead author of the report
In 2021, Ontario was short of 471,500 homes; it will need a little over a million homes to keep up with the projected population growth over the next ten years, from 2021 to 2031.
The demand for housing remains significant throughout the province, and Halton is no different. Moffat believes that "local leadership and a substantial plan will be required for Halton to build the needed 90,400 homes between now and 2031."
What’s missing is action, as he feels, "at this point, it’s more of a target than a plan."
The lack of "a serious plan" is pushing families to move to other parts of Ontario - in other words "drive until they qualify" - just to find attainable housing.
Young people are primarily affected; moving far away from their workplace "increases commutes, contributes to the loss of forests and farmland, and makes it all but impossible for the province to meet its climate goals."
"A housing target is not a housing plan. While the 1.5 million housing target is a useful benchmark, it is not a comprehensive plan. The province will need to address the bottlenecks to building more housing, including ensuring enough skilled tradespeople. And we must ensure we are building these homes in a manner which is compatible with our climate goals." - Dr. Mike Moffat