April 10, 2024

British Columbia, about 35 per cent of Ontario’s population, in February issued building permits anticipating about 52 per cent as many housing units as Ontario, according to data released by Statistics Canada today.

The building permits data points to an intensified housing crisis in Ontario while hope may be appearing on the horizon for British Columbia renters and home buyers.

In British Columbia, David Eby’s NDP government saw building permits for 3,625 housing units issued in February 2024, up seven per cent from February 2023.

In Ontario, housing units anticipated by February 2024 building permits tumbled 25 per cent compared to February 2023, falling to just 6,948 housing units. It was the worst February performance since 2019.

According to an analysis from the Ontario PC government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force, construction on 12,500 new housing units is needed each month to relieve Ontario’s housing supply shortage and bring balance to price pressures.

Ontario’s monthly housing target is based on constructing 1.5 million new housing units by 2031.

The Ford PCs’ policies have not met the required pace of construction in any of the 27 months since the release of the Task Force’s report, often failing to reach even half the need to prevent further price pressures.