Attainable housing program stalled despite Ontario choosing ‘demonstration sites’

Two years after the Ford government tasked one of its agencies with offering strategic advice on an attainable housing program to quickly build new units on government land, the policy remains dormant and the province says it is still working on a definition for the term.

New internal documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show Ontario’s struggle to develop a still-unfinished attainable housing program dates back to at least November 2022, with help from Infrastructure Ontario.

Since January 2023, the government has also had a list of five “demonstration sites” it wants to test the program. But, despite making that key decision long ago, the province has remained tight-lipped on when work could begin and if any developers have signed up to be involved.

“Look, we’ve got to start building,” Associate Minister of Housing Vijay Thanigasalam, responsible for the attainable and modular housing files, told Global News as he headed into a cabinet meeting in early November.

He didn’t address questions about the demonstration sites, a timeline for the program or what was delaying its release. Thanigasalam is the third associate housing minister to hold the title without overseeing the release of a finished attainable housing plan.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford started to use the term “attainable housing” moments after being re-elected as premier in June 2022, referring to the idea in his victory speech.

And, within months of returning to power, work behind the scenes was underway to decide exactly what the term meant and how it could be used.

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On Nov. 25, 2022, Minister Kinga Surma wrote to Infrastructure Ontario — which is in charge of land owned by the provincial government and acts as its real estate corporation — telling the agency to help with the plan.

The letter told Infrastructure Ontario it was expected to “provide strategic advice for an attainable housing program” for the government, under the direction of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

“That would include but is not limited to the determination and timelines of development-ready land and that would consider additional legislative, regulatory, and/or policy changes to achieve program outcomes informed by stakeholder engagement.”

Two months later, in January 2023, then-housing minister Steve Clark wrote a letter of his own, this time to the provincial land facilitator, telling them to get the program underway. The letter said an attainable housing steering committee had been set up with members of the housing and infrastructure teams to oversee the program.

“The government announced its intent to create a new attainable housing program,” Clark wrote.

“The program would adopt a variety of tools to support the construction of housing that more Ontarians can afford to buy, starting with the use of surplus provincial land across Ontario… that could be scaled up to include other sites outside of the province’s real estate portfolio.”

The letter said that, as of early 2023, five sites had been identified across the province. They were located in:

• Oakville
• Markham
• Thunder Bay
• Kingston
• Vaughan

The letter instructed Ontario’s land facilitator to have “site-specific due diligence” and “concept development” ready by April 2023.

“Additional sites, timelines and parties may be identified as this work progresses in consultation with the Steering Committee,” Clark wrote.

Despite internally planning to have some kind of program ready by April 2023, the government appears to have missed its own target.

When Housing Minister Paul Calandra was appointed in September 2023 amidst the Greenbelt scandal, he was told by officials the term was still undefined. He announced new consultations in December 2023 to help define the term.

During a February interview with AM 640 host John Oakley, Ford struggled to explain what attainable housing actually meant.

“They’re coming out with what attainable housing is, we’re working with stakeholders,” Ford said on Feb. 22.

“Basically, you’re going to be able to own a home but it’s going to be more attainable.… It’s attainable, it’s going to be a lower cost than regular-priced homes.”

1:42 ‘Attainable housing’ will be cheaper than ‘regular priced homes’: Ford

As of November 2024, those consultations have yet to yield a public result.

“The government continues to consult and develop a final definition of attainable housing,” a spokesperson for Calandra’s office told Global News.

“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing continues to meet regularly with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Infrastructure Ontario on the development of an attainable housing program.”

Asked about the stalled program, Associate Minister Thanigasalam promised he was focused on building in new and innovative ways — but offered no updates on the attainable housing question.

“I’ve been crisscrossing across Ontario meeting with modular manufacturers, factory-built builders, to make sure we encourage more builders to adopt this new technology,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re going to continue to build traditional homes but we have to use all the tools in the toolbox. That’s why we’ve got to continue to invest in technology.”

&© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.