Canada’s housing crisis demands an ‘all hands on deck’ response from all three levels of government — but municipal officials, in particular, can have an outsized impact in bringing new supply of homes to the market, according to Starlight Investments’ Vice President, Development and Public Affairs, Howard Paskowitz.
“Over the past few years, we’ve become aware that the way to solve the crisis is through more supply, and achieving that requires collaboration and partnership from government,” said Paskowitz.
“Politicians have the pens and developers have the shovels, but there’s got to be a way to use those pens to create more opportunity and enable the developers to build more housing, faster.”
Research from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) suggests an additional 3.5 million units are needed to restore affordability to the housing market by 2030. Additionally, due to trends in population growth, the CMHC found that housing starts will need to double to more than 430,000 units per year until 2035, in order to meet demand.
While rising construction costs and interest rates have chilled residential development in many Canadian markets, municipalities have the ability to create a policy environment that will help catalyze new housing investments from corporate property owners.
What does that look like? Starlight has a few ideas.
First, municipalities need to work to reduce red tape and allow new housing projects to move forward faster. Solving the housing crisis requires treating the issue with urgency, said Paskowitz, but too often projects are hindered by the uncertainty caused by lengthy and unpredictable approval processes.
“In addition to hearing the opinions of existing residents, we would also like to see our elected officials representing the interests of future residents – recognizing that today’s decisions will shape the opportunities and challenges of generations to come,” said Paskowitz. “Change can be scary, but either you’re growing or you’re falling back… and it’s the cities that pay for decline. We need our leaders to look beyond election cycles and champion the necessary, sometimes uncomfortable, transformations.”
“The time it takes to get approvals at the municipal level often makes new purpose-built rental projects unviable – so we need to get the planning and zoning requirements streamlined to solve this challenge. Municipalities are really in control of the last mile of the race.”
Secondly, a high-priority change would be reforming development charges, which refers to the costing structure that requires developers to pay for capital infrastructure associated with new housing communities, like water and wastewater systems.
“These charges remain one of the biggest barriers to building purpose-built rental housing,” continued Paskowitz. “Ensuring the financial burden doesn’t fall entirely on developers is critical to making sure these projects are financially viable enough to move forward.”
Thirdly, the provincial government should further improve the Landlord and Tenant Board process to reduce delays, and create a provincial framework that supports increasing housing density near transit stations or other high-demand areas.
While housing affordability has become a hot-button political issue in recent years, the most effective solutions will come from strong public-private partnerships. Public financing is a critical piece of the puzzle, and combining it with the expertise and resources of purpose-built rental providers like Starlight is the key to turbocharging new housing supply and positively impacting affordability in the long-term.
It’s a problem that has been percolating for decades as, for example, more than 87 per cent of purpose-built rental apartments in the Greater Toronto Area were built prior to 1980. Since then, residential development has predominantly focused on condos — leaving those in need of purpose-built rental housing without many options.
“There’s been a chronic undersupply of rental housing, and it’s created an imbalance,” said Paskowitz. “Starlight is committed to increasing rental supply across Canada, and we do this by investing in new residential development projects and preserving our aging rental stock.”
Putting that commitment into action, Starlight has a robust housing pipeline set to deliver thousands of new rental suites across the country over the next decade. In addition to developing net-new housing, the company has also invested $1.5 billion in preserving and improving existing rental properties and infrastructure over the past five years.
Starlight is also a leader in leveraging infill development strategies. This unique solution reimagines the use of underutilized land on existing residential sites to create new housing. These lots are often already residential zones and help to relieve pressure from stressed housing markets – while utilizing existing infrastructure.
“We find ways to utilize the extra or underused land on our sites, and we’re able to create more housing at existing rental apartment communities… and we think that’s going to be a key piece in solving the housing crisis,” said Paskowitz.
An example of this in action is The Shoreview in the City of Barrie. Here, Starlight identified an excess of underused land and transformed a portion of the site into an 11-storey, 215-suite community with a diverse mix of studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom layouts.
The success of The Shoreview underscores the vital role of municipal partnership; the City of Barrie proved to be a highly supportive partner, demonstrating what’s possible when developers and forward-thinking municipalities collaborate to address the housing shortage. Starlight is committed to identifying and delivering developments that meet the unique needs of residents and the communities they serve.
This collaborative spirit and focus on innovative solutions are precisely what Starlight champions. As Paskowitz puts it, “what you’re seeing here is a generational opportunity and responsibility for Canada to build more housing.”
Indeed, seizing this opportunity requires all levels of government, especially municipalities, to continue embracing their pivotal role in the ‘last mile’ of the race, clearing the path for the housing Canadians desperately need.
Paid for by Starlight Investments.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Starlight Investments and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of iPolitics.