The federal government is reviving a war-time plan for pre-approved home designs to accelerate building across the country. Andrew Chang breaks down why it takes so long to build housing in Canada, and whether a new version of the plan could help.
#housing #costofliving
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Look at how long it takes just to get the approval to start building a house in Canada anywhere from a year and a half to almost three years on average in some of Canada’s biggest cities politicians of all Stripes from all levels of government seem to agree that
Holdup is a huge part of why we are where we are today we need to build more homes faster faster and faster than ever before we have young people living on the streets pleading for housing options that are within reach it’s a supply and demand issue if we do not build more
Housing this will get worse but the federal government says it has a solution one that worked 80 years ago when it helped build tens of thousands of houses really fast and really cheap but how realistic is that today will Reviving Canada’s so-called wartime housing plan actually speed up Builds in most cities if you’re trying to build a house there are two separate but related Hoops that you need to jump through one is to follow the local zoning rules which I’ll get to in a moment but two is to get a building permit now to get that permit you
Generally need to commission and submit a portfolio of structural drawings these need to outline things like fire safety Plumbing Systems construction materials and usually they need to be stamped by licensed Architects and Engineers all of that takes time and then if there’s any uh challenge around a design or around a
Project that can delay it even further so um the timelines uh of these projects are a significant issue and keep in mind this isn’t just for major projects like condo buildings even for laneway houses or secondary Suites you have to go through all of this so the government
Says let’s revive a really old idea to cut down on red tape we’re essentially trying to unclog the pipeline at every step of the way in the early 1940s there was a housing crisis in Canada not entirely dissimilar to today they were short a couple hundred, thousand homes
In Canada like people were doubling up they were living with other families with the same problems that we had they that we have they had back then there was no way to build housing that quickly in the kind of normal system and so in 1941 the government set up a crown
Corporation Called wartime housing limited problem Architects and draftsmen went ahead with the job of Designing inexpensive homes of non-essential materials that could be erected almost overnight by mass production they prepared thousands of identical Blueprints and ship them to builders across the country cookie cutter houses
And a lot of the time you know how long it took to build one of these homes like months maybe weeks no 36 hours they called them strawberry box homes or Victory houses you can still find tens of thousands of them across the country so fast forward to today and the
Government is saying maybe we could do that again let’s make a similar pre-approved catalog of designs to cut down on all the time and money spent procuring reviewing and amending these drawings forget having to go through the same red tape on every project maybe a
Big chunk of what we build only needs to get approval once I will be looking for preapproved designs for multiplexes for mid-rise buildings for student housing for seniors residences and other small to medium scale Residential Properties uh this will include uh Garden suites and laneway homes and different kinds of
Houses that will solve the challenges that our communities are facing today it kind of makes sense and I mean it worked before right but it doesn’t quite address another part of the approval process and it’s a big One in reality even if you have an approved blueprint you can’t just kind of plop it down anywhere you want like a skyscraper in Calgary doesn’t necessarily work in Canmore right and Toronto’s yellow belt is a good example of how zoning laws really limit what you can build where for decades these big
Yellow swats of the map have been zoned strictly for single detached or semi- detached homes same thing in this map of Vancouver most of the land here has also been zoned for single families now recently both cities loosened those rules a bit making it easier to build things like duplexes or triplexes in
Those areas but to build anything else you’d need either public consultations or actual changes to the bylaws which can be a lengthy and expensive process and the bigger the project the more rules apply there are many studies that are required for a a project and in particular larger multi multi-unit
Residential buildings everything ranging from engineering and architecture to uh Shadow studies uh tree canopy studies runoff studies traffic studies uh it can be extensive zoning rules also often specify things like parking requirements how close you can build uh to the sidewalk or to other buildings how tall
Your building can be what kinds of Shadows you can cast and then there’s also neighbors and if neighbors have opposition to your project then that can also take significant amount of time basically lots of cities have lots of different constraints and and that just wasn’t an issue the last time this idea
Of standardized blueprints really took off the most significant building regulations in the 1940s were basically about mitigating fire risk public consultations weren’t a thing Toronto’s first zoning bylaw wasn’t passed until 1952 and Ontario didn’t have a provincewide building code until 1970 there’s still a lot of work to be done
At the municipal level to actually to make sure that those billing types would be pre-approved but here’s the other thing even if you get the blueprint approved even if you follow zoning laws doesn’t necessarily mean that house is getting built moving from approval to action
Also seems to be a huge part of this problem a 2023 City of Toronto report puts it this way an ongoing challenge is translating development application approvals into completed homes that individuals and families can move into from 2017 to 2021 Toronto City Council approved an average of around 30,000
Units per year the average number of units built over the same five years only about 16,000 across Ontario there are apparently more than a million potential new homes that have been approved but where construction simply hasn’t yet started the developer has a has a profit
Target uh and so the project has to meet that profit Target before they’ll proceed with it yes no matter where you live money is a big reason these projects get stalled a lot can change for a developer from plans on paper to shovels in the ground the market can
Change financing can fall through even the cost to build can change from year to year an unprecedented Surge and demand has sent prices here soaring just look at the building construction price index the cost of building a single detached house or townhouse in Halifax for example has gone up nearly 10% since
This time last year this varies a little city to city but in almost every city where this is measured the rise in costs has outpaced inflation getting the skilled people to actually do the building is another hurdle according to stats Canada there are almost 100,000 vacant jobs in the construction industry
Across the country Canada’s construction industry is dealing with a labor shortage and it looks like it’s going to get worse we’re talking about a shortage of residential and high-rise construction workers Brick Layers cement finishers people who do trim and tile work it’s the old adage that time is
Money delays in construction uh projects really can add significant cost to a project and turn projects that were at one point financially viable into projects that are teetering on the brink all this means the incentives to build right now are limited and for developers until we know what blueprints are
Approved it’s impossible to know whether they’ll even think think they’re worth building really these projects are on a razor’s edge here uh in terms of in terms of whether they will uh uh make their financial uh viability targets and in many cases now costs have run up so
Much between the interest rates and the construction costs that the end buyer uh or renter can’t afford what it would cost to actually move into that unit so here’s the bottom line we haven’t heard any experts say this is a bad idea I mean you know more options for faster
Builds that’s a good thing but Details Matter which blueprints get this wartime pre-approval and how willing will municipalities be to incorporate them into their neighborhoods will Builders actually build enough of these homes at scale to put a dent in Canada’s housing crisis hard to say a consultation
Process on the whole thing starts next month and the government says it’ll likely be almost a year until any new design is ready to be built
35 Comments
I want to see more of this guy. He’s great and has quality content comparable to Utae Lee
It should never come to this
You really raise the issue of how complex the problem is. And only partially, sadly. There is also the cost of municipal services and maintenance, the greater load on old and undersized sewers and utility systems, the need to raise development standards to address more intense storms, more hard surfaces (houses on smaller lots with more paved surfaces leading to greater demands on storm sewers), the public demand for more interior space (2x over 1950) and amenities (2bathrooms, more closets) and of course the shortage of skilled labour. Ontario is making several yet to be proven attempts to reduce red tape and bureaucracy, modular homes are getting more attention, but despite the wish and need to see more homes constructed builders are being cautious for the reasons you and I list. but also because they build what sells, few are willing to take innovative risks in this financial climate or are not of a scale to do so. On top of that, more towns are seeing community resistance to growth, something local councils, especially growth centric councils, have no experience with. This resistance is justified when preserving that sense of community is most important to its residents with growth seen as just more traffic, more flooding from over loaded sewers, and less social interaction.
Any housing action was asked for 20 years ago. Our government workers must have lots of real-estate friends (conflict of interest).
The government imported 400+ THOUSAND foreigners last quarter but yea its definitely because we aren't building fast enough.
Government paid propagandists actively misleading you, that should be the title of the video.
love this for canada. you get what you vote for
So the housing crisis was deliberate then?
any one that believes this nonsense doent know anything about house building, theres a massive shortage because no none want to do trades or pick it up because its hard work and doesnt pay well for the work you do. a house wont be built in 36 hours and wont be faster, not even close, besides people cant afford these homes to build and the bank wont gove alot of people money for a mortage inless they have a huge amount down . people cant even save for that with the cost of living and the biggest reason the carbon tax ffs, CBC is nothing more that liberal funded propaganda
Canadian government has to let buy properties investors pay more tax to reduce property price as these group buyer make canada property prices go up !!! Property is not stock, it is for Canadian people living, not investment tools, who use property price for them make money, they have to pay higher tax !!! As they make people home place becomes their make money tools, Canadian government have to stop this bad way asap ! Solve Canadian people no place living problem asap ! If they buy second property has to pay 50% more tax, more property they have to pay more tax to reduce property prices asap !!!
I've been watching the housing market closely, Prices have been skyrocketing for years. It's going to be tough for first-time buyers to enter the market." how can one diversify $280k reserve .
The cost of materials is the issue. You can't compare past war time building with today when the building material costs are so much more of an issue.
>we need more houses!
Maybe stop importing people?
You can’t build affordable housing
zoning laws should still be enforced. I actually think the issue here can be simplified.
1. Stop people from owning more than one home. It will free up homes for first time home buyers
2. Stop foreigners from buying homes.
3. Stop institutional investors from investing in single family homes and focus only on High Rise xondo developments.
Buying mutliple homes for rent and wealth preservation is the problem in my opinion. Make real eatate less attractive and many families will be able to afford it
We need solutions yesterday, not years from now. We are already on the brink of a total collapse of our housing industry and 1 person and his cronies are to blame
How about just build houses, remove the beurocrisy, and close the borders. Canadians are struggling while the government tries to look good as humanitarians. I am sick and tired of this pandering.
It worked before because a tear down property in Vancouver is still $2.5M, the property was more affordable because we did not let prospectors influence property prices. This is a government issue that eff's Canadians.
Exerts From Letter From David Warrack Drew to the Right Honourable Julie Dabrusin Member of Parliament Toronto Danforth
Housing
Ideas to solve the lack of affordable housing problem here in TO.
The first idea about housing I have is about the replacement of windows.
Why just replace windows when you can just add another complete double paned window either inside of the existing one or on the outside of the existing window? The basic exterior wall is a nominal 6” to one foot thick. A double pane window is generally a nominal one inch thick. So, building a frame with a piano hinge so the new window can be accessed for cleaning; match how the existing window in how it is opened and closed and you will more than double the insulation value of the window and the garbage dumps won’t have to be filled up with old windows. It should not cost any more than the existing system of replacement windows. There will now be three air gaps between panes without the need for the 7% added insulation value that exotic expensive gases like exon give; again, tripling the insulating effect a single air gap would give. The Canadian Housing Mortgage Insurance Corporation writes the Building Code of Canada so they should be able to test my idea and give a more definitive assessment on the ease of installation and the more than doubling of insulation value and then the idea can move forward.
The second idea is about the height of ceilings.
I posed the question to Morgan of why is the standard height of a ceiling 8 feet. I’m 6 foot high and I can barely reach seven feet;, as a result storing stuff above seven feet high I need a ladder, and changing light bulbs requires the same. People use space by area but heat by cubic. There is no need;, with the use of low boy light fixtures;, for the extra one foot of ceiling height. Personally, I have found that a human naturally see up to 6 foot-eight inches the height of the door top and you have to force yourself to see above the top of a door height. Well, reducing the height of a of the ceiling will reduce the cubic volume of a room by at least 12% and resulting in the same cost of heating that enclosed space the same. An eight-story building can become a nine-story apartment building with a result of more apartments available for occupation with the same number of British Thermal Units to heat it and still meet a height restriction requirement but how does the “coverage requirement” get calculated? Is it by square foot of usable area or is it by cubic occupancy? How will that reduce the cost of construction per-person-occupied-residential-unit and how will that result in reducing Carbon Footprints?
The third idea is about to how to use our land resources properly.
Well, along Eglinton from Victoria Park to Birchmount on both sides of the road there are signed proposals for redevelopment. Since the present road-light rail-bicycle laneway- sidewalk;, right away is a nominal 115 feet wide;, why can’t we just build right over top of the existing egresses? Imagine a platform built 50 feet above the present road stretching across the said same said;, on both the north and south sides a row of town houses four stories high;, one down acting as a basement and three up;, stretching along east to west;, each townhouse, a nominal 15 feet wide by thirty in depth leaving about 58 feet in the centre as common area-street scape like—open area. One of the problems with high rise-condo-apartment living is everyone gets a cubic area – cubical;, the street neighbourhood like life of neighbours goes missing. There is no talking over the fence, there is no sharing neighbourhood gossip, there is no sense of belonging said same said neighbourhood;, all you have is a cubic area you occupy, a door that opens up into a corridor;, you go through the door heading for the elevator such that you can get to your car to go and do what? Or go to where? You just live there with hundreds of other strangers;, but with every four floors;, a fifty by ever long the building is;, there will be an open area with paths to the elevators, trees, playgrounds, bushes, a ten foot of personal garden in front of each residence, put in a four-foot-wide porch, ad balconies to each of the above ground floors-windows:, and you will create a street scape for the residents to view and have a shared enjoyment of;, you will in effect create a neighbourhood.
If you go 1,100 feet tall and make it a continuous structure from VP to Birchmount have double row of Towns on the north side and south side;, you can possibly create housing for fifty thousand people and you won’t have to remove any existing building or ruin any new land;, with creating space for hundreds of trees and since the land is already owned by the city of Toronto, you don’t have to buy any land. Imagine that. Government owned land having: “multi-use”! David Warrack Drew.
We all know that Canada is behind in everything compared to America, because Canada Government, get in their own way.
Justin T is worse PM of Canada . Building only 200k and bringing 1.5 million to Canada . Shame on Justin T & Jagmeet Singh .Please resign
This guy is supper annooying . Please give this segment to someone else
The last GOOD journalist at CBC, you're all they got tackling ACTUAL ISSUES!
Vancouver Special was amazing…
Need to adopt Japanese Zoning laws and building.
Re-establish the Affordable Housing Commission that was shut down for no apparent reason in 1991 by Chretien. How's that for a solution? Why was it shut down in the first place? A great question for Trudeau and the Lieberals.
Small, cookie cutter postwar houses were a great postwar housing option. It is not a solution now because the problem is not the cost of the house but rather the cost of the land.
So if construction labour is in short supply why is it a general labourer would make around 23-24/hr just a couple years ago but today those same positions are closer to 19-20? Wouldn't a higher demand by employers mean better wages? We dont see that tho.
About that is a great program, entertaining and informative.
This is all a distraction away from the concept that our govt (regardless of whos running it) steals our tax dollars to enrich themselves and others. Inflation wasn't created overnight, we've been printing money since the early 2000's and there will continue to be increased inflation until we crash and burn hard. Housing, fuel, food prices are just symptoms of this problem.
Another cheap and simple solution would be to legalise things like Boxabl and Tiny Houses.
What about factory homes? Or Co-ops?
I live in the former East Berlin now and while most haven’t aged well, the Platenbau buildings that were pioneered here in the 60s-80s might be a good solution. The Modular concrete design is so innovative, and I’m sure it could be modernized and adapted to the Canadian market.
Such a great video! But the last 5mis of this video shows the real issue: buildings are being approved, but construction does not start. The cost of building materials is insane and there are few if any construction workers. Without labourers nothing is going to happen. Now flip to the CBC video on “housing shortage vs. Immigration” – in that video (and the comments) it is clear that Canadians are wary of immigration. Yet, without immigration you have no labourers bc Canada’s population is rapidly aging. That is a demographic reality and it will not change bc of birthrate decline. It is quite a conundrum.
It is just a matter of money. Do many people still have faith in the government and politicians? With an increasing number of immigrants arriving, the housing prices are skyrocketing. Considering the government gains a huge amount of money through selling passports, why would they ever consider stopping it?
Bureaucracy and Red Tape are always a huge setback.