RESCON calls on the provincial government to focus on development standards and timelines
The Ontario government should focus on accelerating new housing approvals, boosting the influx of skilled immigrants, and ensuring that municipalities adhere to universally agreed building standards, according to the Residential Construction Council of Ontario.
The residential builders’ group said that the government should zero in on municipalities that are “mandating their own unique technical building requirements as they see fit” without regard for Ontario and national building codes, RESCON wrote in its budget submission.
“While we presume well-intentioned, municipal governments that seek ... the implementation of municipal green standards by acting independently ahead of higher-tier governments can in fact elicit unintended consequences, such as increasing the cost, complexity and time it takes to deliver much needed new housing,” RESCON said.
Harmonizing codes and standards across the province would help ensure clarity and transparency, said RESCON president Richard Lyall.
“Yes, let’s make things greener,” Lyall told The Canadian Press. “Yes, let’s move the needle on energy efficiency and all that stuff. And we’ll continue to do that. But let’s do it in an organized way, and not having these sort of proverbial fits and starts here and there with different municipalities going off in different directions.”
Streamlining construction standards and the implementation of a digital development approval and building permit platform would be crucial for the near future, as nearly one quarter of the current construction labour force in the Greater Toronto Area is likely to retire by 2030, RESCON added.
