Developers says Ontario’s definition of “affordable housing” isn’t realistic

Ontario’s plan to get more affordable houses built appears to be falling flat, as developers say the pricing guidelines set by the government aren't realistic and would see them lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When the Ford government pledged to build 1.5 million homes this decade, part of the promise was affordable and attainable housing. The province has now defined what “affordable housing” actually means.

The government says an affordable single family detached home in Ontario should be roughly $351,000 on average. If a developer can meet that target, the government believes they should get a discount on development charges.

But the development industry doesn't believe it's realistic. In fact, a recent report pegged the average cost of a detached house in Ontario at $889,000 — 85 per cent higher than the government's affordable goal.

And the development industry says between the cost of the land, taxes, fees and construction costs, a house can cost $1.3 million to build.

Global’s Colin D'Mello explains.

#GlobalNews

[burntce]

This is what ineffective and disappointing government policies looks like

[oddlyoaktree]

This is why affordable housing requires public funding and the missing middle. You can't expect private businesses to build out of the kindness in their hearts! They aren't charities. And you can't expect to solve this crisis with single detached homes. We need public housing, and diverse housing configurations (Fouplexes, laneways, mid-rises, and TODs).

[pacman]

Who would have thought that our politicians (from all parties and all levels) were out of touch with reality and the common people.

[annatar]

1.5 million new homes in 10 years. Meanwhile bringing in 500k immigrants each year. The math isn’t mathing.

[bjorn____]

I wonder if the influx of new Canadians has anything to with this😂

[JessT-vgib]

time to chase these greedy developers out of town

[patientzero]

Affordable housing means condos or apartment buildings within major cities throughout all Canadian provinces and territories

[jeremywilson]

My city is building a bunch of new apartments all over town. No way am I interested in living in a 2000 a month apartment that isn't protected by rent control.

[Michael-pgrv]

We need to do away with the term "affordable housing". If we just loosen then rules and expectations and allow developers to build WHATEVER they want that will make them money, then it will result in more supply. If they are building more supply on the high end then those prices come down and people living in the middle range can move up freeing up supply at the bottom bringing down prices across the board. JUST BUILD! Do we really want to live in a country where 50% of the supply are studio and 1 bedroom apartments??

[r.]

Ontario's a big place. How about _outside_ the GTA, Mr. Sherwood?

[jmjm]

The Canadian government hasn't done nothing to make housing affordable for Canadians.real estate prices are keep going up and up and

[phoreal]

Move the target, no way can you make a home adorable, make affordable condos. That's more reasonable, unfortunately in the GTA, due to land cost as shown, house ownership is to high of an expectation to make it "affordable"

[ethanbarc]

Congrats on building homes in Canada 🇨🇦

[andygeng]

Costed 20k to do my townhouse patio pavers today. 😂

[George-zd]

Ford could care less about affordable housing.

[mikec]

Nice to see NDP finally admit that housing in Toronto is extraordinarily expensive....now if she will STFU when it comes to landlords and high cost to rent, we can all move on.

[YasirAli-grjr]

le taux d'augmentation des coûts du logement devient incontrôlable. Pour garantir que tous les citoyens aient accès à un logement abordable, les législateurs doivent adresser ce problème.

[theastuteangler]

"Developers too greedy to build simple, inexpensive homes. Canada proposes first public housing since 1993."

that's a better headline.

[Bakalakalajihad]

This is serfdom with a few extra steps.

[SORab__i]

There is need of 10 million by 2030 not 1 million