June 23rd, 2022

NDP responds to shocking CMHC report: Ford must change course to address housing shortage

NDP responds to shocking CMHC report: Ford must change course to address housing shortage

TORONTO – Jessica Bell, the NDP MPP for University Rosedale, called on the Ford government to spur the construction of attainable and affordable homes in response to Thursday’s CMCH report on Canada’s housing shortage and affordability crisis.

“Doug Ford failed to do anything at all to address housing affordability in his first term, and the results speak for themselves,” said Bell. “Ford needs to do things very differently in his second term to solve the affordability crisis of our generation.

“To ensure that everyone can afford a home to live in, Ontario needs to spur the construction of not just unaffordable luxury properties, but starter homes, missing middle homes, purpose-built rentals and affordable housing to meet the needs of Ontarians first, not just investors,” Bell said.

CMCH’s new report estimates Ontario needs to build 1.8 million more homes than it is projected to build by 2030.

Bell said Ford should adopt the Ontario NDP’s Homes You Can Afford platform as a roadmap. It includes:

  • Spurring the construction of 1.5 million homes over 10 years, in a mix of starter homes, purpose-built rentals and affordable housing units.
  • Ending exclusionary zoning and updating growth policies to increase the supply of affordable housing in pedestrian and transit-friendly neighbourhoods.
  • Establishing a new agency called Housing Ontario that will finance and build at least 250,000 affordable and non-market rental homes over the next 10 years, operated by public, non-profit and co-op housing providers.