Long-time housing scholar Carolyn Whitzman says she’s optimistic a new round of consultations to develop a Canadian industrial strategy for homebuilding will generate tangible benefits.
The consultations were announced Aug. 19 by Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser. The goal, they said, was to source additional ideas for accelerating innovation and productivity in Canada’s homebuilding industry.
Whitzman, an adjunct professor with the University of Ottawa who recently has been contributing to the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, is one of five members appointed to an expert panel that will provide advice to the ministers.
Speaking before the first meeting of the panel, Whitzman said, “I think there’s a lot of exciting things going on. I think there’s potential to scale up modular wood frame and other innovative approaches.
“In general, we need to move beyond this duopoly of highrises and small condos.”
The announcement stated the consultations will seek input from a broad range of stakeholders, academics and community leaders through a series of roundtables as well as reaching out to the general public asking for online submissions.
Online consultation until Sept. 13
The online consultation will be open until Sept. 13 with topics to include improving productivity within the housing sector, stimulating innovation and technology adoption, improving access to capital and strengthening supply chains.
The government announced it would introduce a new $50-million Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund in its 2024 budget, and there were other innovation announcements including $50 million to modernize and expedite homebuilding through the regional development agencies.
“That whole package on housing policy research, that’s of interest to me,” said Whitzman.
“A number of international organizations like the World Bank and the OECD has been saying there’s too much a proportion of the GST that’s in home speculation and not enough being spent on innovative technologies.”
How we got into this ‘mess’
Other members of the expert panel are Isabelle Demers, vice-president of the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Quebec; Emma Kozak, vice-president of real estate lending with the Royal Bank of Canada; Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association; and Bryce Nugent, director with the Modular Housing Association Prairie Provinces.
Whitzman is a historian by training whose most recent book on Canadian housing policy is titled Home Truths.
The book, due to be published in October, chronicles how Canada has gotten into its current housing “mess,” according to the author’s webpage.
“How we can return to that kind of victory homes era immediately after World War Two, where a million homes were built with a price point in mind, $6,000 to $7,000 for a new home,” she said. “Six thousand to 7,000 is what a single income industrial worker or starting professional could afford, and homes were produced at that cost through a combination of standardized construction.”
For 40 years the federal government took a lead role on housing policy with a constant focus on creating affordable housing, “the kind of homebuilding that we needed.
“Then it got out of housing policy in ‘92 and it left it to the provinces…(and) the provinces did a terrible job of ensuring that housing was affordable.”
But there are signs the federal government is again ready to assume a leadership role, and meanwhile there are examples of innovation across the country.
Whitzman cited NRB Modular Solutions of Ontario, which scaled up production as the federal Rapid Housing Initiative took off early in the pandemic, and Utile, a non-profit student housing provider in Quebec, as innovators in the sector.
And the Squamish First Nation in British Columbia is partnering to build 6,000 housing units on reserve land in central Vancouver.
“That’s a game-changer. That’s the kind of stuff we haven’t been talking about before in Canada,” said Whitzman.
Canadians have been developing industrial strategies for the automobile industry and other industrial sectors for some time now, Whitzman said.
“Absolutely, homebuilding needs an industrial approach.”
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