Housing Supply Needs More Public-private Collaboration, Less Red Tape

John Fox and Leor Margulies were recently interviewed and subsequently featured by Law Times discussing the intricacies of recent legislation impacting residential construction in the province.

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has pledged to build at least 1.5 million new homes by 2031. The province passed five bills – Bill 108, Bill 109, Bill 23, Bill 97, and Bill 134 – aimed at facilitating this new housing surge. The Get it Done Act, 2024, a piece of omnibus legislation the province introduced on Feb. 20, includes proposed amendments to the official plans of some of Ontario’s fastest-growing municipalities.

Law Times spoke with two lawyers at Robins Appleby LLP about how Queen’s Park’s efforts are helping or hindering residential construction.

John Fox is managing partner and co-lead of the firm’s affordable and social housing group. He says that for too long, Ontario has focused on private sector delivery at the expense of non-profit and co-op housing. He predicts that Ontario meeting its goal of making housing more affordable will require a level of collaboration between the public and private sectors that the province has not seen in a long time.

Head of Robins Appleby’s commercial real estate and development group, Leor Margulies, says the Greenbelt scandal has discredited much of the province’s progress in fixing a system burdened by red tape, resistant municipalities, and many other factors. He says more incentives and tax breaks will help correct the supply crunch.
The suite of changes in Bills 108, 109, 23, 97, and 134 reflect a philosophy that the greater the housing supply, the lower the price will be, says Fox. He says the changes that will promote a faster delivery of housing through efficiencies in the planning system and cost-control measures, such as reductions in development charges, will help deliver affordability. However, he adds that these changes occur against a background of higher construction costs, higher interest rates, and labor shortages.

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