Lofty goal to build 30K new houses over 10 years has everyone on same page

“Kingsville is open for business,” proclaimed Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers who joined other mayor-elects Tuesday at a luncheon held by the Windsor-Essex Home Builders Association.

He told the gathering of builders and developers, “we want to build homes. In the past, we got about a hundred homes a year. We’ve upped that to about 150. We’ve got about 2,500 in the pipeline for the next ten to fifteen years.”

Area leaders shared plans to reach a goal set by Doug Ford during the election. The PC government promised 1.5 million homes would be built in the next ten years.

Each municipality has its own allocation.

Windsor-Essex County is on the hook for 30,000 homes, 13,000 of those are to be built in the City of Windsor.

“In Windsor-Essex County, I think the best year we ever had was 1,600. Eighty houses in one year so we have to double that essential for the next ten years,” said Vince Lapico, president of the Windsor-Essex Home Builders Association.  

Workforce and supply chain issues persist in the sector but many builders say there is one issue that needs to be addressed. 

“Hopefully cut through the red tape so they say for future developments and allow the builders, the quality builders, in this room to build homes for the next ten years to keep up with the numbers,” said local builder Drew Coulson.  

Area mayors agree.

“We need the private sector to build it and we need to make sure we're moving out of their way, doing what is required to protect the environment and building code issues as well but move out of the way so that they can build the homes that are needed in Ontario,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.  

Rogers added, “we’re going to have conversations with our developers, with our businesses small, medium and large, to find out what we’re doing that’s standing in the way. We need to be able to get that out of the way and let the people who do it best, do it best.”

Gino Piccione, owner of Timberland Homes, was encouraged by what he heard at the luncheon.

“It's nice to see that they're kinda listening to our concerns and problems we're faced with and they're making every effort to help,” he said “Sounds like it anyway.” 

Dilkens says the Strong Mayor system would not be a factor if instituted.

“We have an alignment at city council that we're removing red tape, that we're working with the home builders who are going to construct these units and try to help them achieve their goal,” he said.

All players involved agreed collaboration between communities is important and that there is a responsibility to reach the goal by also building attainable homes. “We know that there’s a housing crisis in our community,” said Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara. “We can’t leave anyone behind.”