Can Canada build its way out of a housing crisis?

As Ottawa aims to ramp up homebuilding to ease the affordability crisis, the construction sector is warning of an impending labour crunch that could send housing costs soaring.

Construction employers say they lack labourers for roles like framers, tile setters, and window and door installers — positions that don’t require formal certification and are learned on the job. Canada’s current immigration system, they argue, is falling short because its points-based ranking method tends to prioritize highly educated and skilled workers, such as engineers.

“We’re really struggling with getting the right type of workers,” said Sue Wastell, president of Wastell Homes in London, Ont.

These shortages, Wastell warns, are already causing delays and pushing up prices.

“It’s really causing a lot of delays and adding extra costs to our overall prices that we have to end up charging the end user,” Wastell told CBC News.

According to Statistics Canada, immigrants already account for 23% of all general contractors and residential builders in the country. But many in the industry say that isn’t enough to meet today’s labour demand.

Retirement wave compounds shortage

BuildForce Canada estimates that 22% of the residential construction workforce, about 259,100 workers, is set to retire over the next eight years. Only 228,100 new workers are projected to enter the industry in that time, creating a shortfall that Wastell says was worsened by the pandemic.

At the same time, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says the country must build 5.8 million homes by 2030, on top of current projections. to return affordability to 2004 levels.

Patrick McManus, executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, warned that the workforce gap isn’t limited to residential construction.

“We're worried,” said McManus, whose group represents 800 member companies across Ontario that build and maintain water infrastructure. “If these issues aren't addressed, we are going to deal with problems like rising costs on construction projects, delays in construction projects.”

He pointed to the latest Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, which found that 30% of water infrastructure and nearly 40% of roads and bridges are in fair, poor, or very poor condition.

“This is the most critical asset that we own as the general public,” McManus said. “We're going to have some very serious problems unless we're investing sustainably and growing sustainably.”

Government eyes reforms

In a statement to CBC News, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said it plans to convene an advisory council to “assess the needs in the industry and advise on new pathways to bring in the skilled workers we need, a regularization pathway for out-of-status construction workers, and support for foreign apprentices.”

The department also said it would continue to review how effective the points-based immigration system has been.

Ottawa has committed $9 million to help 1,500 internationally trained construction workers join the Canadian workforce. The government said the funding went to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America to help workers get Red Seal certification in trades like carpentry, welding, and industrial mechanics.

Read more: Canada to add 1,500 skilled construction workers amid builder sentiment slump

In March, then-immigration minister Marc Miller announced plans to expand on pilot programs, including a 2020 initiative in the Greater Toronto Area that offered permanent residency to undocumented construction workers. As of November 2024, the pilot had admitted about 1,365 permanent residents and their dependents. The program’s long-term future is uncertain with a federal election approaching.

Some provinces have launched their own programs to attract workers. In October 2023, Nova Scotia introduced the Critical Construction Worker Pilot, which allowed job candidates to use occupational training instead of a formal education and accept alternative language proof if they had skilled job offers.

“That was a barrier to them using our programs,” said Jeremy Smith from Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour Skills. “[The pilot program] provided that flexibility when it comes to the … high school equivalency.”

The pilot approved 512 applicants in 2024, according to Smith.

But Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, said the federal government needs to do more.

“At a time when we have a national housing crisis, we shouldn't be saying, 'Let's let the provincial programs figure it out,’” Lee said.

McManus said that without urgent action, “construction sites could be sitting at a standstill, waiting for workers to arrive for months, within the next five to 10 years.” He added, “We need to modernize and evolve that system.”

Rupa Banerjee, associate professor of HR management at Toronto Metropolitan University, questioned the occupation-specific nature of the current immigration model.

“I'm not really strongly in favour of having points for specific occupations because we're always two steps behind labour market trends and labour market needs,” she said.

“We need to make sure that we have a real wide variety of skills and a real wide variety of people.”

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