Associations

BILD applauds City of Mississauga housing task force report

DCN-JOC News Services January 27, 2025

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. — The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) is praising the City of Mississauga’s Partners in Homebuilding: Mayors Housing Task Force Report, saying it recognizes the complex challenges facing residential and non-residential construction in the GTA.

The report has over 30 findings and recommendations to address many of the common barriers to residential and non-residential construction, BILD states, including:

A ‘cost to build crisis’ where the input costs (land, materials and labour) and government fees, taxes and charges added to new homes and non-residential projects result in a cost to build that is exceeding the market’s ability and/or willingness to absorb. This is undermining the financial viability of new projects and driving down starts. The city is looking to reform development charges, taxes and fees with 14 actions to balance demand.
Excessive bureaucracy and slow approvals that add costs, slow the addition of new supply, and limit choice. This includes overly onerous and prescriptive municipal building and design standards. The city is recommending updating building and design standards and has seven actions to “create efficiencies.”
Excessively restrictive zoning that require development approvals by builders and developers and limits housing types and density across broad swaths of municipalities. Five actions are being recommending for zoning reform to streamline the development approval process.
A lack of co-ordination and consistent actions by all levels of government and collaboration with industry.

“The challenges currently hindering residential and non-residential construction in the GTA are both multifaceted and urgent,” said Dave Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD, in a statement. “There are no silver bullets to addressing the crisis in the region which is why we are pleased that the city used a stakeholder driven process to seek input and then break down the issues into component parts before recommending a course of action.”

To read the full report visit Mississauga.ca/housing-taskforce.