Province provides $45 million to streamline 'backlog' of building permits to increase housing supply

As housing prices skyrocket across the country and here in Windsor-Essex, the province hopes funding to streamline building permits will help build more homes, faster.

“Ontario has a housing crisis and that’s no secret,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday, at the kick-off of a housing summit meant to collect ideas to solve the housing crisis and also assist municipalities dealing with the supply shortage.

The average price of a single-family home in Windsor-Essex is now $571,000, a mark that has doubled since 2020.

The province announced $45 million dollars for municipalities to streamline development approvals at the local level in an effort to increase housing supply.

“New housing starts are stalled, bottle-necked and choked by red tape which is further driving up home prices,” said Steven Clark, the minister of municipal affairs and housing. “Increasing housing supply to meet this demand means building more homes faster.”

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens took part in the summit along with dozens of other big city mayors across Ontario.

Dilkens confirmed the city will apply for this funding to review its own internal processes at the development and planning departments.

“It’s really about removing red tape and trying to help developers see the potential, move out of their way and let them build,” said Dilkens.

Mayor Dilkens says local governments in the region are handing out a record number of building permits to address the supply shortage, but admits prices are getting out of hand and developers aren’t yet building the mix of homes needed to suit all needs.

“The supply that is coming online is still in a price range that is unaffordable to most average working people,” he said.

Top brass with the Ontario Real Estate Association agrees that supply needs to increase in a big way to reign in housing affordability.

A new poll released today by Abacus Data shows Ontarians believe high home prices and the rising cost of living are top issues facing the province.

Dilkens said the summit brought out many other suggestions, like provincial help to develop Brownfield sites deemed by developers as too expensive to rehabilitate.

Dilkens said the mayors also discussed the need to improve the speed at which land tribunal hearings move, noting it’s a hindrance to putting shovels in the ground.

He said part of the discussion also looked at ways to address skyrocketing rental prices.

“They are all alert to this, they’re all alive to this issue,” Dilkens said.

These and other issues will be discussed with the federal government and with rural mayors in the coming days, so the parties can work together to forge a long-term plan.

“We need housing of all types, we need missing middle, we need that purpose built rental,” said Clark. “We need that mixture of homes that reflects the needs of the community.”