BURLINGTON – March 7, 2025 – Yesterday, the West End Home Builders’ Association (WE HBA) facilitated a presentation by StrategyCorp’s Brian Teefy to the City of Burlington’s Pipeline to Permit Committee. Elisha Vankleef, Development Manager, New Horizon Development Group, and member of the Committee, was instrumental in enabling the discussion yesterday.
Ontario and Burlington are facing a housing supply crisis. The private sector is instrumental in meeting the province’s housing target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031, with a target of 29,000 new homes in Burlington. StrategyCorp’s recent report, Ontario Developer Survey 2024: Perspectives from a Sector on Edge highlights the views and opinions of the development industry as the industry navigates uncertainty, risk, rising costs, and a challenging permitting and policy environment. The report explores many themes, including the challenges builders face in navigating evolving planning policies and regulations; the high cost of government taxes, fees, and charges applied to housing; the disconnect between industry and government; and how rapid population growth is shaping the nature and quantity of housing demand.
The industry is in survival mode, with a key goal of businesses in 2025 being make it through to the end of the year. Poor economic and financial conditions have continued, housing starts and sales have plummeted, while demand continues to be elevated. We are in a once in a generation crisis, and governments need to begin treating it that way; the industry is anxious as projects are unable to start, existing projects are stalled or cancelled, and a significant gap remains between the cost to build a unit and the price buyers are willing to pay. The City of Burlington, through Mayor Marianne Meed Ward has demonstrated leadership through reductions in Development Charges in 2024 and a resolve to work with the development industry through the creation of the Pipeline to Permit Committee in 2024.
Uncertainty is elevated, and a rapidly shifting policy and political environment has led to many companies waiting current conditions out until turmoil subsides. Developers are frustrated by process challenges; inconsistency between levels of government and between departments within municipalities; staff turnover in local planning departments; rising Development Charges in many Ontario municipalities, Community Benefit Charges, and other fees; and an inability to get funding from lenders due to a lower appetite for risk. With these challenges, deals no longer pencil, starts are stalled, and the housing that we desperately need does not materialize. This has all been compounded by declining consumer confidence in the face of a trade war with the United States.
Central to easing the industry’s anxiety is fostering increased collaboration between governments and the private sector, and the Pipeline to Permit Committee led by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward is a prime example of the type of collaboration necessary. With the stakeholders at the table, we can work together to address this crisis and deliver housing that Ontarians need.
