Ontario cities falling short of housing targets; just Pickering, Oakville, guaranteed bonuses

Despite the Ontario government’s promise to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 and pledges from its 50 biggest cities to help make it happen, the province is falling short of its targets, with homebuilding performance particularly weak in 2024.

Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC), shows that from January to October 2024, Ontario started 13,000 fewer homes than the previous period last year, while the rest of Canada started 14,000 more homes.

Taking a closer look at Canada’s 100 largest communities paints a gloomy picture of Ontario’s ability to build enough homes to meet its assigned targets and make progress towards a fixing housing crisis that continues to be trending in the wrong direction.

Just three Ontario towns cracked the top 20 in housing starts per capita, with only Pickering (#9) making the top ten in the country. British Columbia had eight communities crack the top 20, while Quebec had 4.

Ontario municipalities did make up 13 of the bottom 20 spots for per-capita homebuilding, including Golden Horseshoe communities Aurora (81), Brampton (83), St. Catharines (85), Ajax (87), Burlington (89) and Halton Hills (91).

Over the last six years – from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2024 – Ontario has been in the bottom half of provinces in terms of homebuilding per capita, with record population growth exasperating the situation.

The provincial government has created a $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund to reward municipalities that reach at least 80 per cent of their annual target with funding. Only a handful of communities have hit their targets since the fund was established, including Pickering, which has nearly doubled its target this year already, with 1,866 units started. The city’s goal was 1,083 units.

Oakville has also smashed through its target for 2024 of 2,750 units, with 3,383 units started. Milton (78.46 per cent) and Niagara Falls (78.41 per cent) also look to be on pace to reach their goals and collect a financial reward.

* The 15 cities highlighted in orange all signed an open letter to Premier Doug Ford to use the ‘notwithstanding clause’ to override a court decision and find other ways to provide shelter for the homeless people now living in municipal parks.