By Richard Lyall
RESCON
The 2024 Ontario Building Code is scheduled to come into effect Jan. 1, 2025. There will be a three-month transition period for applications if working drawings are completed before Jan. 1, 2025.
The changes are long overdue and will provide a much-needed update to construction regulations. They will streamline processes and increase harmonization with the national code.
Wild West
However, when it comes to the specific issue of Green building standards – Ontario is still much like the Wild West.
Some municipalities in the province have taken it upon themselves to come up with and pass their own independent and more onerous standards that are outside the fundamental parameters of the provincial code and are clearly not permitted under the Ontario Building Code Act.
The Town of Caledon council voted in favour of implementing a one-year Green development standards pilot. The program is now in effect for all development applications received by the Town.
King Township has a new program that is scheduled to come into effect Sept. 1 that will require development applications to follow five sustainability metrics that affect the design of buildings.
Another barrier
However, by introducing such programs, the municipalities are creating yet another barrier to new housing – at a time when we are facing the most serious housing affordability crisis ever experienced.
By developing and implementing their own set of Green building standards, the municipalities will gum up development approvals, slow down the process and escalate construction costs.
In the end, consumers will pay more for housing.
RESCON has written a letter on the matter to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra, noting that the standards passed by municipalities are out of line, as the Ontario Building Code Act and building code supersede all municipal bylaws regarding construction of buildings.
Pressing and urgent matter
We have asked the province to take the actions required to ensure that municipalities rescind these independent building standards that are well beyond the parameters of their authority. It is a pressing and urgent matter as the municipalities are moving forward in an irresponsible way.
We have expressed our concerns numerous times, and feel it is important to raise this matter again in view of the actions taken by Caledon and King Township.
Our members build 80 per cent of the new housing in Ontario, and do so in a manner which represents some of the highest environmental standards anywhere in the world.
However, by operating outside of the parameters of the Ontario Building Code, both Caledon and King Township are creating yet another barrier to delivering new housing – at the very time that we are facing the most serious housing supply and affordability crisis ever experienced.
Presently, housing starts are dismally low. In Toronto, they dipped 40 per cent in June.
To keep up with population growth, the city needs 30,000 to 40,000 condo units a year. But latest figures show only 23,900 condos and purpose-built rental projects are expected to be completed in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area in 2027 – a 10,000-unit decline from 2024.
Ontario’s population grew by 200,000 in the last six months, but we had only 37,425 housing starts in the first half of this year. That’s a reduction of 6,577 units from the same period in 2023.
Many young people are leaving our cities and province, or they’re planning to do so because they cannot find an affordable place to live.
Homebuilding targets
The federal government has set a goal of building 3.87 million new homes across Canada by 2031, while the Ontario government has indicated that we need to get at least 1.5 million homes built by 2031. These are just pipe dreams, though, as we are nowhere near reaching those targets.
If additional Green development standards are imposed by municipalities – independent of the building code – the task of building new homes will be all the more difficult, and more expensive.
Builders are fully supportive of taking action to address climate change. The residential construction industry in Ontario is already recognized as a leader in adopting more energy-efficient building practices. However, municipally-created Green building standards are geographically inconsistent, haphazardly implemented, violate the rules and will only raise costs.
Housing affordability is now one of the greatest concerns of Canadians. Municipalities must be prevented from blindly plowing ahead with their own programs, and they must be reined in.
Richard Lyall is president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). He has represented the building industry in Ontario since 1991. Contact him at media@rescon.com.
