The federal government cannot ensure availability and affordability on its own, Crown corporation says
The private sector will need to play a major role in addressing Canada’s housing supply crisis, according to the federal housing agency
In a recent analysis, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said that as much as 3.5 million housing units will need to be built across the country by 2030 to return affordability to levels last seen in 2003-04.
This level is significantly higher than the total number of homes that could likely get completed in around eight years, taking the current pace of construction into account, CMHC warned.
“Ontario and British Columbia need to supply most of these housing units,” CMHC said. “These are big numbers, but the task of restoring affordability is also huge.”
This is an area where private entities should pitch in to assist, the Crown corporation stressed.
“The federal government cannot achieve affordability for everyone in Canada on its own,” CMHC said. “We need partners. The private sector will be critical in addressing this supply shortfall. For their parts, governments can help by ensuring that the regulatory process is as efficient as possible while respecting important environmental and social concerns.”
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Governments need to act as soon as possible before an irreversible crash sets in, CMHC said.
“There must be a transformation in the priority given to increasing supply of housing and that this increase is massive,” the agency concluded. “Increasing supply of housing by a hundred here and a hundred there will simply not be sufficient.”
“Canada’s approach to housing supply needs to be rethought. The evidence has been mounting for many years that the housing supply system is broken in many parts of Canada.”
