Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford made his own announcement on April 1, introducing a plan to double the pace of housing construction, which would result in 1.5 million homes built in the province over 10 years. In the “More Homes for Everyone Plan,” the idea is to build as many homes as possible, as fast as possible.
“During the pandemic we saw people move out of the city… but now they’re coming back,” Tal says. “Jobs are in the city, and although you can work from home this is not the early days of the pandemic, companies still want people in the workplace. Therefore moving away from the city is not exactly the ultimate solution.”Article contentRenting, argues Tal. In Canada, and much of North America, there is a stigma around renting versus owning. And that stigma only worsens as the wage gap increases.
Yet it’s not as simple at just deciding to rent. There needs to be an initiative from the government to create more purpose-built rental apartments. The more this is done, the easier it will be to decide to rent instead of buy.Article contentYet while renting is certainly a part of the solution, Hudak argues that Canadians chasing the home-ownership dream should also have more options. And they’re being met with red tape.
“We’d like to see more mixing of middle homes like a duplex, stack of townhomes, as these are often attractive for first-time homebuyers and empty nesters,” Hudak says. “We also need to expand housing in approved but still undeveloped land in existing communities.”Article contentCanadian house prices will continue to heat up, Tal says, but the government could take some of the pressure off by providing incentives for builders to create more apartments for the rental market.
“The challenge today is we’re facing the potential in our province of having housing haves and have nots,” Hudak says.