Pickering hits provincial housing targets six months early

The only Durham municipality to qualify for a housing start bonus from the provincial government last year has reached its 2024 target with more than six months to spare.

Pickering smashed it own housing target by an extra 58 per cent in 2023, with a record-breaking year for housing starts (1,502 new units) earning the city a $5.2 million bonus and a date with an oversized novelty cheque from the provincial  government.

This year the municipality had already built 1,533 new housing units by the end of June, 350 more than its target. Pickering’s target percentage of 141.55 is the highest in Ontario, in fact, and one of just two communities in the province (Oakville is the other) to hit housing targets before the year was half over.

The Doug Ford government has set a goal of building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 and has assigned the province’s 50 largest municipalities with housing targets to help meet the goal. The province is encouraging municipalities to meet their targets through the creation of the $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund, which rewards municipalities that reach at least 80 per cent of their annual target with funding, with bonus funding for municipalities that exceed them.

The Province relies on monthly housing starts and additional housing units (non-residential space that is converted to residential units as well as residential to residential conversions) provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as well as long-term care bed data from the Ministry of Long-Term Care. New and upgraded beds in long-term care homes are included in the data.

“We are thrilled to have met and exceeded our provincial housing target halfway through 2024,” said Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe. “The City of Pickering is doing its part to help address the housing crisis, and we look forward to continue working with the government of Ontario, Region of Durham and our neighbouring municipalities to get more residents into their choice of housing sooner.”

Sarnia (95.18 per cent), Woodstock (93.01 per cent), Welland (87.15 per cent) and Windsor (85.32 per cent) are also assured for an end-of-year bonus from Queen’s Park.

Five other communities, including Toronto, are more than halfway to their housing targets.

No Durham municipality but Pickering was rewarded last year and the same trend may continue in 2024, with only Clarington (45.06 per cent towards their target of 1,083 housing units) tracking towards a bonus.

Clarington had the poorest performances of all Durham communities last year, achieving just over half of its provincially imposed housing targets. Mayor Adrian Foster disputed the criteria, however, saying the municipality did meet its assigned numbers but lost out on a $4 million bonus because of a discrepancy between the CMHC and the municipality on the definition of a housing ‘start.’

In 2023 Whitby and Oshawa all achieved between 60 and 67 per cent of their housing goals, far from the 80 per cent required to qualify for financial bonuses, with Oshawa Councillor Derek Giberson also crying foul over the tracking system at interim reporting time in the spring, calling the whole process a “political PR exercise.”

Oshawa (36.2 per cent) and Ajax (31.4 per cent) have a chance at a bonus with a busy summer and fall construction season. Oshawa has the biggest target at 1,917 housing units and has completed 694 units towards that end as of July 1.

Whitby, with just 287 building units counting towards its total, is just 19.13 per cent towards its goal.

Oshawa’s target by 2031 is 23,000 homes, an ambitious goal considering the city has never come close to building houses at that rate, despite smashing building permit records last year by $300 million.

Whitby was assigned 18,000 homes; Ajax 17,000 and Pickering and Clarington 13,000 units each.

Pickering issued 1,933 building permits last year, with an estimated construction value of $853M and received 1,972 new development applications, valued at $1.26 billion. The numbers represent the most development applications received and building permits issued in a single calendar year for Pickering.

Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe (right) receiving a cheque for $5.2 million earlier this year from Premier Doug Ford and Finance Minister (and local MPP) Peter Bethlenfalvy