Factory-built housing is an important solution for Canada's housing crisis

Globe and Mail

15-04-2025

TORONTO, April 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To reach Ontario's bold goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031, we need to be building more homes significantly faster than currently. Luckily, we have a proven solution – and much of what we need, from innovative building techniques to mass timber and Canadian steel, is right here in Ontario's backyard.
Today, the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) released a new policy report, titled Building More, Building Faster, outlining the importance of embracing factory-built homes as a key part of the solution to address Ontario's ongoing housing supply and affordability crisis. This approach would save time and money during construction, without compromising quality or neighbourhood aesthetics.
Factory-built, or prefabricated housing, is a fast-growing area of homebuilding where homes are constructed in a factory – often using prefabricated 3D components – and assembled at their final address. The recently re-elected Government of Ontario recognizes the significant potential of this approach, as highlighted in their 2025 Ontario election campaign commitment to invest $50 million into prefabricated homes and innovative homebuilding technologies.
The cost of building, supply chain issues, and economic uncertainty brought on by tariffs are impacting housing construction across the province and beyond. There is a dire need to get more homes to market faster. To fully embrace the benefits of factory-built homes and speed up construction, regulatory barriers need to be addressed.
OREA's new report highlights five policy recommendations that would cut red tape and create favorable conditions for investment to significantly boost factory-built housing construction with 'Made-in-Ontario' solutions that can eventually scale nationally:
Create a standardized, province-wide definition of factory-built housing;
Engage partners in pursuit of cross-country collaboration;
Reduce red tape and regulatory burdens, including at the municipal level;
Encourage and invest in the expansion and adoption of factory-built homes for housing; and
Exempt factory-built housing from archaic 'spring thaw' restrictions under the Highway Traffic Act.
'Now more than ever, housing affordability needs to be the top priority for the Government of Ontario to address, and with precise policies and legislation, we can help scale the housing construction industry and get more families into great, affordable new homes,' said OREA President Cathy Polan. 'It will take strong collaboration with all levels of government and industry to get it done, and the policy recommendations on factory-built housing put forward by Ontario REALTORS® in this report provide the path to getting more homes built, faster.'
If implemented, we can build a stronger, more resilient housing system – faster, smarter, and made right here in Ontario.
For more details on the policy recommendations, click here for the backgrounder and here to view the full policy report.
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