New housing leaders must pick up the pace of change

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We’ve witnessed an unsettling game of musical chairs being played out lately when it comes to political leaders overseeing the housing portfolios at various levels of government.

There have been significant changes at the helm at both the federal and provincial levels, as well as the City of Toronto.

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Federally, Sean Fraser replaced Ahmed Hussen as minister of housing. On the provincial front, Paul Calandra took over from Steve Clark who resigned from cabinet amid the Greenbelt land swap controversy.

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In Toronto, John Tory, a strong housing advocate, was replaced by Mayor Olivia Chow. Meantime, the planning and housing committee has a new chair. Coun. Gord Perks was named to lead the charge, replacing Coun. Brad Bradford, who’d been selected as chair by Tory and is now the vice-chair.

These are all competent political leaders. However, it is disturbing to see so much turnover on the housing files when we’re in a serious supply and affordability crisis.

These leaders must keep the pedal to the metal, pick up the baton and work with the residential construction industry to tackle the problem.

There are some good initiatives under way.

The province has introduced legislative measures aimed at getting more shovels in the ground, and we are hopeful there are more coming down the pipe.

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The federal government recently announced it was removing the five-per-cent GST on construction of new purpose-built apartment units. The province proclaimed it will follow suit with the eight-per-cent HST.

In principle, the tax measures for rental housing should also be extended to apply to owner-occupied market housing. There should also not be an expiry date on the new GST and HST measures.

The excessive taxation of shelter is wrong. Housing is a need, not a want like alcohol or cigarettes. Exorbitant taxes, fees, and levies like development charges are stymieing the construction of housing.

A report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis shed light on the seriousness of the issue, concluding that taxes, fees and levies on a new house or condo account for 31 per cent of the cost.

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At the City of Toronto, meanwhile, a Housing Action Plan was passed last December that sets the stage for meeting or exceeding the provincial target of building 285,0000 new homes over the next 10 years.

These are all very positive steps, but more work remains. The new leaders have hit the ground running but there is no time to waste as production has started to slow.

And much remains to be done to make housing affordable for working families and boost social housing development.

Richard Lyall is president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). He has represented the building industry in Ontario since 1991. Contact him at media@rescon.com.

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