BILD and OHBA statement on CMHC’s Ontario housing forecasts

March 24, 2023

The Ontario government recently brought in bold measures to increase housing supply in the province. It is much too early to accurately forecast the effects of these measures on future housing starts, given that the ink is barely dry on the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, the implementation of its provisions at the municipal level has only just started and the implementation of the More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022, is still ongoing.

Ontario’s housing supply and affordability crisis is a policy-driven problem a decade and a half in the making. Rectifying it will not happen overnight. The forecasts recently released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reflect the former policy environment, not the new one.

Statistics Canada announced this week that Canada’s population grew by a million people last year. The federal government has committed to welcoming 500,000 new immigrants annually. These are clear indicators that housing demand will remain robust.

The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) support the Ontario government’s courageous goal of building 1.5 million new homes over the next decade, and we continue to call on governments at the municipal and federal levels to join us in supporting the province’s goal of substantially increasing the building of homes of all types.