New polling from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) confirms that the majority of Ontarians are concerned about housing affordability and the high cost of living. According to a new poll, over half (51%) of respondents ranked housing affordability as their top priority for government focus. This represents a 16 per cent increase since June 2021, indicating Ontarians are becoming increasingly concerned about housing affordability despite recent government action.
Conducted by Abacus Data on behalf of OREA, the Housing Affordability in Ontario: Perceptions, Impacts, And Solutions (Wave 4) survey additionally found that Ontarians are struggling financially. While the majority of respondents (52%) said they are able to cover their expenses every month, but unable to save money, 17 per cent said they are unable to cover normal expenses such as rent without taking on debt or cutting back. For aspiring homeowners, this figure jumps to 29 per cent, which doesn’t bode well for their ability to save for their goal.
“For most of Canadian history, it was a given that every generation had a better shot at homeownership than the last,” said OREA CEO Tim Hudak. “Homeownership fostered vibrant and stable communities and was foundational to a great quality of life. But today, that dream is slipping from too many young families in Ontario as they are frozen out of the housing market due to a historic lack of housing supply driving up prices. These issues cannot be solved without governments taking bold action.”
While 80 per cent said they believe there are steps that could be taken to improve housing affordability, only 15 per cent said they approve of the job the Ontario government has done thus far. Meanwhile, 55 per cent said that they believe certain decisions by the provincial government has made it more difficult to buy a home. Top factors cited include: the availability/cost of land (47%); increased immigration to Canada; the cost of borrowing for builders, and foreign investors (42% each); and a shortage of skilled trade workers (34%).
“It’s clear that homeownership is top of mind for many Ontarians,” Hudak said. “Pro-growth, pro-housing solutions must continue to be championed if we want to get more shovels in the ground and bring more supply to market. This is the only way Ontario can meet the goal of building 1.5 million new homes in the next decade and improve affordability for our province’s would-be homeowners and families.”
According to OREA, the Ford Government has made some important progress toward this goal, including permitting secondary units as-of-right province-wide and introducing the Building Faster Fund to incentivize municipalities to hit or exceed their annual housing targets. However, the group says “more action can – and should – be taken to increase supply and improve housing affordability.”
Recommendations include:
- helping mitigate availability/cost of land by ending exclusionary zoning (72% support or can accept);
- helping lower the cost of borrowing for builders by providing provincial loan guarantees for affordable housing projects and purpose-built rentals (83% support or can accept);
- addressing the shortage of skilled trade workers by increasing support and funding for colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeships (86% support or can accept).
Over 150 REALTORS met with their local MPP at Queen’s Park during OREA’s REALTOR Advocacy Day in November in support of the above recommendations, totalling 86 meetings across all parties.
