A newly formed group called the National Housing and Investment Initiative (NHII), consisting mostly of leaders from Canada’s building and development industry and largest banking institutions, has published a new report outlining recommendations made to the federal government on the development of a more sustainable housing market in Canada.
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The report, entitled Recommendations for a Sustainable Canadian Housing Market, provides “strategic advice to support and inform the federal government’s review of the National Housing Strategy and the implementation of broader federal housing and infrastructure policies,” it stated in a release.
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Dave Wilkes, president and CEO Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) which helped convene the group, said: “There is no self-interest here.”
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All the stakeholders involved – members of Canada’s banking community (including BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank) and members of Canada’s housing and development sector (Mattamy Homes, Minto Group, Menkes, Brookfield Properties, Tricon, Remington Group, Cantico, BCO, Wesgroup) – are a like-minded group that will work to create stability, as “Canada’s housing sector has experienced an unprecedented period of market and policy volatility.”
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In addition to the report, the group will be providing the “big picture, visionary thinking” needed to come up with a road map to solve Canada’s housing woes, he says.
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In an interview, Wilkes acknowledged too that already this year much progress has been made, recent government initiatives like the enhanced new housing HST rebate and the Development Charge Reduction Program in Ontario “have demonstrated that well-designed policy can improve housing market activity and restore confidence,” he says.
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But Canada’s housing challenges won’t be solved through a single policy intervention, “meeting Canada’s housing needs will require a collaborative and long-term strategy that strengthens every stage of the housing delivery system – from planning and approvals to financing, construction and investment,” he says.
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Wilkes says that some of the recommendations now in place are temporary (HST rebate, reducing development charges), but can be extended or become permanent.
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The report, which was facilitated by BILD and the Missing Middle Initiative, focuses on four interconnected and underpinning pillars: attracting more long-term housing investment in Canada; improving credit risk management in housing; stability and predictability in immigration policy; and, accessing better data to make better housing decisions.
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“These pillars are essential to creating a more affordable and resilient housing production ecosystem in Canada,” the groups says.
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Of the 29 recommendations presented in the report, five were identified as priority recommendations.
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These include:
• Making Ontario’s enhanced new housing HST rebate program permanent;
• Exploring alternative options for municipal revenue and infrastructure financing, to move away from the reliance on development charges to support housing-supportive infrastructure;
• Introducing a capital gains rollover program which would allow investors who sell purpose-built rental apartments to defer capital gains – as long as the proceeds are reinvested in purpose-built rental construction;
• Refining the foreign buyers ban to exempt new housing construction, development ready vacant land, and purpose-built rental projects from restrictions; and,
• Introducing an “Owner-Occupied Construction Loan Program” for condominiums to improve construction financing for new ownership housing.
Wilkes says further goals of this group will be to inform The National Housing Strategy, which is the government’s commitment to ensure more people living in Canada have access to safe, affordable and inclusive housing.
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Launched in 20017, The National Housing Strategy is currently a 10-year, $115+ billion plan to give more people in Canada a place to call home.
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To this end, the group has submitted various recommendations to the federal government to support Canada’s housing needs, including an acute shortage of housing across Canada.
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To put this into context, the reports states: “The federal government has established a commitment to achieve 500,000 housing starts annually.
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This is a laudable goal and an important recognition of the importance of housing ….however, it does represent a significant expansion of Canada’s current construction pipeline
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In order to achieve this goal, it would require a five to six times increase to the long-term average of approximately 152,400 units annually under construction between 1990 and 2022.”
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To read the full report, visit bildgta.ca/news-resources/industry-reports/.
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