Windsor council pledges to 'aspirational' goal of getting 13,000 homes built over next 8 years

The City of Windsor is taking a bold step to help facilitate the construction of 13,000 new homes by 2031.

The number is being called an ‘aspirational target’ — the city’s share of the province’s ultimate goal of building 1.5 million homes during that same time.

Council members voted 9 to 2 Monday to make a pledge to the province that it will meet the province’s targets in the “More Homes for Everyone” and “More Homes Built Faster” Acts.

“I think what you're seeing from the province is a big push to try and get more homes built,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens. “And they're saying to all municipalities make the pledge to play your part and change your process to be able to do that.”

The city processed an average of 309 housing permits each year from 2010 through 2018.

From 2019 to 2022, that number jumped to an average of 603.

The new targets will require Windsor to process more than 1,600 housing units each year until 2031.

“It's a target that is double what we're doing now, in terms of new dwelling units within the city,” said the city’s chief building official, John Revell. “And it's going to be a challenge to achieve, not necessarily because of the government, but because of industry as well.”

Revell said it’s no secret developers are dealing with a skilled labour shortage and materials supply issues.

“Within the construction industry there are other limitations, largely centred around labour and materials. We’re only half the equation here in terms of permitting 1,300 per year is pretty optimistic in terms of what the industry can handle right now,” said Revell.

For these reasons and others, some around the council table believe the target is too lofty.

“They're very ambitious. In fact, I'm very skeptical as to whether we can attain them,” said Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie.

He’s concerned about the financial risk the new legislation poses to the city and agreeing to a target that he doesn’t believe is attainable.

“I think we should hold out, ask the province to come to the table with some concrete measures that can help us to achieve those goals, and then I'd be interested in revisiting making the pledge,” said McKenzie.

It’s a fear shared by Ward 7 Coun. Angelo Marignani, who said he makes decisions based on integrity and doesn’t want to make a promise he can’t keep.

“I think we walk on a slippery slope when we say we’re going to do something and we know we can’t do it,” Marignani said.

At the same time, council gave administration the go-ahead to consider hiring six full-time equivalent positions in the planning department, a decision that will be revisited and likely approved at budget time.

That decision comes as planning applications grow in number, along with new provincial requirements to process those applications on a shorter timeline or risk financial penalties.

“If we don't meet the statutory timelines, that means we have to give a refund of building permit fees back to develop to the developer, which could cause significant damage to city resources,” said Dilkens.

The impact of those penalties and looming changes to the development charge structure is unknown, but McKenzie believes it could impact the city’s bottom line by millions to tens of million of dollars.

“Planning is the tip of the spear and they need to make lots of decisions at the front end,” said chief administrative officer Onorio Colucci. “It will also impact other areas, like the development section will be highly impacted by this.”

Mayor Dilkens believes the province will “make the city whole” for any loss in development fees and also points out that an increase in housing units also translates to more property taxes for city coffers.

“We want to make sure from a city perspective that we are firing on all cylinders to be able to address the demand that's out there,” said Dilkens.