Latest news with #CarolynWhitzman
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alberta gov't fell short of its affordable housing goal last year: annual report
The provincial government completed fewer new or refurbished affordable housing units last year than the previous three years, according to figures in the Seniors, Community and Social Services Ministry's annual report. Provincial funding contributed to the creation of 388 new units in fiscal 2024, while another 410 households received rent supplements — payments that help people pay rent in market-housing units, the annual report says. But the combined number of 798 units and subsidies fell short of the ministry's target of 1,500 for the year, the report says "The provincial government has been failing at creating more affordable housing, particularly for low-income people," said Carolyn Whitzman, a senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto's School of Cities. Last year, the Alberta government created 641 affordable housing units — through new builds and refurbishments — and allocated 1,661 rent supplements. In the 2021 Stronger Foundations report, the province's 10-year strategy for affordable housing, the government set a goal to expand the capacity of its affordable housing system, so it could support 25,000 more households by 2032. That figure combines new builds, renovations to existing units and rent subsidies. During a media availability Friday, Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon told reporters that the provincial government is on track to reach its goal. He said providing rent supplements for existing market housing is part of the plan. "Rent supplement units are new units," Nixon said. "Taking a unit on, that would be in the open market, and creating a rent supplement for that unit creates an affordable unit that would not have been affordable before this." The annual report said an additional 1,626 units were under construction as of March 31. Nixon's press secretary, Amber Edgerton, said in a written statement that the figure in the annual report shows the projects completed within a fiscal year, and that most affordable housing projects are currently being built. "Construction of affordable housing doesn't happen in a fiscal year — these are long-term projects that will benefit Albertans for decades to come," she wrote. On Friday, Nixon and Eleanor Olszewski, the federal minister of emergency management and community resilience and MP for Edmonton Centre, announced that the federal and provincial governments will spend $203 million combined to build 2,300 affordable housing units across Alberta. The provincial government has spent $386 million through its Affordable Housing Partnership Program since 2022, and plans to spend another $655 million over the next three years. Provinces could do better Whitzman, the U of T researcher, sees problems with Alberta's use of subsidies to help make market housing more affordable. The payments, she said, don't always make up the difference between the rent charged for a unit and what a lower-income tenant can afford. Rent subsidies also keep tenants in the private market, which may not provide the same kind of rent stability as a unit in a community-housing or non-market unit., she said. Nixon rejects calls for Alberta to implement rent control while the province builds out its affordable housing supply. He argues rent caps provide a disincentive to developers who build new apartment and homes. Whitzman said that isn't the case in jurisdictions like Quebec, which has rent control. No provincial government is doing a great job building affordable housing, Whitzman said, but Alberta is failing on several fronts. She said Alberta has a growing rate of evictions, and that the government needs to improve benefits so people can afford to live. The Alberta government can also change the building code and provide guidance to municipalities on how they can change zoning bylaws to allow more apartment buildings, she said. Calgary, and particularly Edmonton, are doing well with zoning changes, but only because they did so on their own, Whitzman added. Opposition NDP housing critic Janis Irwin, the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, said she isn't surprised the government fell short of its affordable-housing goals. Nixon often cites increases in market housing starts as proof Alberta is building more housing, which in turn will make more apartments available as tenants move into new homes. But Irwin argues the UCP government needs to spend more on new non-market housing, and reiterated a call to institute a rent cap. She said Nixon could spend more on new affordable housing builds, noting the government ended the 2024-25 year with a $8.2 billion surplus. "They could be using that money to invest in new affordable housing. They could be upgrading the affordable housing that we know is in disrepair," Irwin said. "We know that investments in housing will will pay dividends down the road. These should be viewed as investments and not expenses."
Global News
20-07-2025
- Business
- Global News
Tale of two cities: Why Edmonton builds homes faster than Toronto
Canada started building only slightly more homes in June than it did in May, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) said on Wednesday. Compared to May, the annual rate of housing starts was largely flat with a 0.4 per cent increase, but it rose 14 per cent compared to this time last year. The national numbers mask stark regional disparities, however. 'Through the first six months of the year, national housing starts have increased marginally compared to 2024, however, new home construction varies significantly across Canada,' said Kevin Hughes, deputy chief economist at CMHC. Over the first six months of 2024, Edmonton started building 8,448 homes. That compares to 10,868 in the first six months this year — a jump of 29 per cent. Calgary also saw a significant improvement in the first six months of this year with a 32 per cent jump in housing starts to 14,712 compared to 11,178 in the first half of 2024. Story continues below advertisement 'Calgary and Edmonton have just been streets ahead of other cities and (especially) a lot of cities in Ontario, for instance, in making their zoning bylaws simpler as well as less restrictive,' said Carolyn Whitzman, senior housing researcher and adjunct professor at University of Toronto School of Cities. One of the biggest laggards when it comes to housing starts is the country's largest city. In the first months of 2024, Toronto started building 22,529 homes. This year, that number has dropped to 12,575 — a 44 per cent decline. 'Edmonton is one of the fastest cities in Canada when it comes to approving new housing and communities in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) are amongst the slowest. And that is certainly playing a role here,' said Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa. 'Toronto doesn't seem to be waking up and smelling the coffee,' Whitzman said, adding that cities such as Calgary and Edmonton end up with more housing starts because they prioritize building 'missing middle' housing. In many Canadian cities, strict zoning laws mean developers can build either single-family homes or condo towers. Homes that are neither — such as sixplexes and fourplexes — are often referred to as the 'missing middle' by advocates and researchers. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Most of the homes that we've built over the last 40 or 50 years have been one of two varieties. They've been either single detached homes or they've been highrise condos. And both of those markets are having problems right now in our more expensive cities,' Moffatt said. Story continues below advertisement He added, 'Single detached homes have become so expensive, (many) middle class families can't afford them. And highrises serve a particular market and that's not really in demand right now.' A large part of Edmonton's success comes down to its approach to zoning, Whitzman said, an issue where Toronto seems to lag. Last week, the city council voted against a zoning bylaw that would limit mid-block infills to a maximum of eight units. 'Toronto is still betting on big, big, big condos that aren't doing well,' she said. 'Last week, a proposal that had been agreed on with the federal government to OK six units as-of-right with no parking minimums got restricted to a relatively small part of the central city. That gives you a sense of different kinds of approaches that different cities are taking.' Whitzman was referring to a Toronto city council decision that allowed the building of sixplexes in only nine city wards, with suburbs having the choice to opt in. In the rest of southern Ontario, the housing starts data is a mixed bag, with cities such as Hamilton and Ottawa building more than they did last year while others are building less., Meanwhile, British Columbia has started building more houses in two of the most expensive markets in the country. Vancouver saw 3,079 housing starts last month, compared to 1,767 in June last year, marking an increase of 74 per cent. Meanwhile, Victoria saw an increase of 187 per cent in housing starts. Whitzman said provincial support for the housing sector can be a major driver of housing starts. Story continues below advertisement B.C. is betting big on prefabricated or modular housing. In September last year, B.C. released a catalogue of pre-approved housing designs for prefab housing. Pre-fabricated housing or prefab construction is a method of building where the bulk of the construction happens off-site, often in a facility like a factory. Either a fully-constructed modular home or parts of a house are then shipped off to the location, where it is assembled and connected to utilities. '[B.C. has] got a much better sense of housing targets (compared to Ontario). It's providing much more funding to non-market developers. Some of the development in B.C., I can say with confidence, is non-market development, assisted by B.C.,' Whitzman said. Next week, Vancouver city council will consider rezoning 4,294 parcels of land in central parts of the city to allow larger buildings, including highrises. 1:58 New realtor trends emerging as housing market cools National picture While the country is building more houses than it did last year, experts still worry it is not nearly enough. Story continues below advertisement 'It's hard to get excited about June's housing starts. They were up 14 per cent year-over-year, which sounds impressive, but it adds up to about 2,700 units. That's not the kind of growth the country can really celebrate at this point,' said Clay Jarvis, mortgage expert at NerdWallet Canada. The slight 0.4 per cent increase compared to last month is meager, he continued. 'Any increase builders can notch in the current economic climate is somewhat of a win, but it's not moving the needle.' Jarvis added that U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war is also going to add more pressure on developers counting costs. 'It's hard to see starts taking a leap while the trade war with the U.S. drags on,' he said. 'Developers were already facing high building costs before Trump's tariffs were announced, and now they don't know how much it'll cost to complete their projects. That's a lot of risk to take on when there are millions of dollars at stake,' Jarvis said.
CBC
14-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Alberta gov't fell short of its affordable housing goal last year: annual report
The provincial government completed fewer new or refurbished affordable housing units last year than the previous three years, according to figures in the Seniors, Community and Social Services Ministry's annual report. Provincial funding contributed to the creation of 388 new units in fiscal 2024, while another 410 households received rent supplements — payments that help people pay rent in market-housing units, the annual report says. But the combined number of 798 units and subsidies fell short of the ministry's target of 1,500 for the year, the report says "The provincial government has been failing at creating more affordable housing, particularly for low-income people," said Carolyn Whitzman, a senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto's School of Cities. Last year, the Alberta government created 641 affordable housing units — through new builds and refurbishments — and allocated 1,661 rent supplements. In the 2021 Stronger Foundations report, the province's 10-year strategy for affordable housing, the government set a goal to expand the capacity of its affordable housing system, so it could support 25,000 more households by 2032. That figure combines new builds, renovations to existing units and rent subsidies. During a media availability Friday, Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon told reporters that the provincial government is on track to reach its goal. He said providing rent supplements for existing market housing is part of the plan. "Rent supplement units are new units," Nixon said. "Taking a unit on, that would be in the open market, and creating a rent supplement for that unit creates an affordable unit that would not have been affordable before this." The annual report said an additional 1,626 units were under construction as of March 31. On Friday, Nixon and Eleanor Olszewski, the federal minister of emergency management and community resilience and MP for Edmonton Centre, announced that the federal and provincial governments will spend $203 million combined to build 2,300 affordable housing units across Alberta. The provincial government has spent $386 million through its Affordable Housing Partnership Program since 2022, and plans to spend another $655 million over the next three years. Provinces could do better Whitzman, the U of T researcher, sees problems with Alberta's use of subsidies to help make market housing more affordable. The payments, she said, don't always make up the difference between the rent charged for a unit and what a lower-income tenant can afford. Rent subsidies also keep tenants in the private market, which may not provide the same kind of rent stability as a unit in a community-housing or non-market unit., she said. Nixon rejects calls for Alberta to implement rent control while the province builds out its affordable housing supply. He argues rent caps provide a disincentive to developers who build new apartment and homes. Whitzman said that isn't the case in jurisdictions like Quebec, which has rent control. No provincial government is doing a great job building affordable housing, Whitzman said, but Alberta is failing on several fronts. She said Alberta has a growing rate of evictions, and that the government needs to improve benefits so people can afford to live. The Alberta government can also change the building code and provide guidance to municipalities on how they can change zoning bylaws to allow more apartment buildings, she said. Calgary, and particularly Edmonton, are doing well with zoning changes, but only because they did so on their own, Whitzman added. Opposition NDP housing critic Janis Irwin, the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, said she isn't surprised the government fell short of its affordable-housing goals. Nixon often cites increases in market housing starts as proof Alberta is building more housing, which in turn will make more apartments available as tenants move into new homes. But Irwin argues the UCP government needs to spend more on new non-market housing, and reiterated a call to institute a rent cap. She said Nixon could spend more on new affordable housing builds, noting the government ended the 2024-25 year with a $8.2 billion surplus. "They could be using that money to invest in new affordable housing. They could be upgrading the affordable housing that we know is in disrepair," Irwin said.
Ottawa Citizen
16-05-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Pellerin: Ontario's new housing bill won't reduce homelessness
Article content A new noise bylaw will make it easier for Ottawans to whoop it up a little louder, and I suppose that's good. But it won't prompt those of us who are waiting for visible progress in the fight against homelessness and housing unaffordability to scream for joy. Recent news reports have us quietly optimistic at best. Article content Article content When the provincial government introduced a bill Monday to speed up new housing construction by lowering fees for developers, I immediately called Ottawa housing expert Carolyn Whitzman, author of the fantastic book Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis, to see what she thought. Article content Article content A nothingburger, she said, as we chatted by phone Tuesday morning, each watching our own TV to see who would be appointed federal housing minister. Article content When he announced the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 in Vaughanon Monday, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack said the bill aimed to make it 'more affordable to build and buy a home in Ontario.' The legislation does that by limiting municipal studies into new developments and speeding up the approval process for minor variances. Article content Given that the devil is always in the details, I went looking into the text of the bill for some kind of definition of 'minor' variances. It's on page 9, where it says minor variances are small changes to zoning bylaws. Jeez, thanks. Article content Those small changes currently have to be approved by a committee after a four-stage process. Under the new legislation, the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will have the power to allow variations to be permitted 'as-of-right' and thus greatly reduce 'barriers for development.' Article content Article content In addition, the legislation will 'streamline' development charges, prevent municipalities from imposing standards that go beyond the provincial building code and – ah, yes – limit the number of affordable units that municipalities can require in a given development. No wonder Ottawa home builders are happy. Article content Article content I don't want homebuilders miserable but theirs is not the only happiness we should pursue. Article content As Whitzman points out, reducing red tape and development charges will do nothing for people who are homeless or in danger of becoming so. 'In general people don't move from an encampment to a subdivision in Markham,' she says. 'If you're talking about the housing crisis, it needs to be broken down in terms of who needs what housing, where and at what cost.' Article content In addition to happy for-profit developers, we need a whole bunch of new non-market housing, co-ops, supportive housing and all manner of affordable homes for those whose household income is less than six figures. Remember, affordable housing shouldn't cost you more than 30 per cent of your household's gross income. If that number is $50,000, then your housing shouldn't cost you more than $15,000 a year, or $1,250 a month. Good luck finding that in Ottawa unless you're prepared to share a one-bedroom apartment with someone else.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Is bigger always better? Not everyone agrees when it comes to 4-plexes in Fredericton
Social Sharing Fredericton councillors have less than two weeks to weigh how they'll vote on a resolution that could spur greater density across the city by allowing most homes to be divided into four separate units. If approved, the zoning bylaw amendment would usher in sweeping changes that would allow a homeowner to create up to three additional units in their home — without the need for permission from city council. But while it's been decried by residents as a threat to the character of neighbourhoods, some housing experts say the changes include restrictions that could still limit their impact in creating new housing units. "There needs to be an effort to say 'Yes' to multi-family housing, rather than say 'Yes, but ...' 'Yes, but ...' 'Yes, but ...' 'Yes, but ...'" said Carolyn Whitzman, a senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto. "And it sounds to me like there's a lot of yes, but-ing happening." Fredericton city staff have put forward the proposed zoning bylaw changes as part of the conditions for receiving $10.3 million through Ottawa's Housing Accelerator Fund. Municipalities apply for a piece of the $4-billion fund to pursue housing-related projects, with a key condition hinging on applicants loosening their zoning rules to make four units the maximum number that can be built on a residential lot. WATCH | 4-unit homes allowed across the city? Don't expect wave of new housing, experts say: Zoning changes to spur new housing in Fredericton no silver bullet, experts say 34 minutes ago Duration 3:26 Fredericton currently allows most residential properties to contain a maximum of two units, with a zoning amendment required if a homeowner wants to create more. Some cities have already adopted or are in the process of adopting changes that would effectively allow a property owner to tear down a home and replace it with a fourplex. However, Fredericton's proposal would only allow a property owner to create up to three extra units, in addition to the home's primary dwelling, along with regulations limiting the sizes of those units and requiring lots to be a certain size in order to qualify. The case for loosening zoning rules Zoning regulations in Canadian cities date back to the 1920s, with an original intent to separate homes from the areas where dirty, noisy industrial businesses were allowed to operate, said Whitzman. In the 1970s, another wave of restrictive zoning rules swept Canadian cities in a way that demarcated large portions of residential areas as exclusively for single family homes. Aside from segregating blocks of lower income people from more affluent residents, it also made it more difficult to construct multi-unit buildings, which in turn drove up the cost of existing homes. Whitzman said urban planners have known about the negative impacts of exclusionary zoning but municipal councils have been reluctant to make meaningful changes because of vocal lobbying by homeowners. She views the federal Housing Accelerator Fund as a necessary incentive to encourage local councils to make the politically unpopular decision to loosen zoning rules. "We have to do something meaningful," Whitzman said. "Again, this isn't the magic bullet, but it's part of the answer." Results from an early adopter A push to loosen zoning rules that exclude anything but single detached homes in residential areas has swept North America in recent years. Minneapolis, Minn, is considered one of the early adopters, with changes in 2020 that allowed triplexes to be built in areas formerly reserved for single detached homes, along with allowances for even denser six-unit buildings along main transit corridors. The changes in Minneapolis were also met with criticism from residents concerned they would alter the character of their neighbourhoods, said Zak Yudishthu, a housing policy researcher focused on Minneapolis and its twin city of Saint Paul. However, almost five years after their implementation, he said the changes haven't led to a significant number of new triplexes being built where they formerly weren't allowed. "What we've seen in the first few years is there's been pretty limited development of those duplexes and triplexes — maybe a few dozen," Yudishthu said. "So, in total, that's maybe contributed a couple hundred housing units." More restrictions, less uptake While loosening zoning rules can help create more housing, any accompanying restrictions on how it can be done will limit uptake. Yudishthu said in a "political compromise" to appease some residents, Minneapolis included restrictions that only allowed the footprint of a triplex to be half the square area of the lot it sits on, along with height restrictions preventing triplexes from being more than 2½ storeys. Yudishthu said those regulations likely stymied the development of denser homes in Minneapolis and offer a hint of how strong the uptake might be if Fredericton adopts the changes it's considering. "I think we've seen in places like Portland [Ore.] and Minneapolis, that with the potential to knock down and replace a single family home with a triplex, it doesn't happen that quickly. "So if that option is also off the table, I think that you would expect relatively slow or kind of weak response." In Fredericton's case, a homeowner would have to build or renovate a house to create at least four units, with one of them needing to be larger than the rest — effectively disqualifying the typical fourplex model. Also, the size of a lot will determine how many additional units a property can accommodate. At least one parking space per unit will be required for homes outside the downtown and any additions to a home can't be taller in height than the main structure. "The more regulations you retain ... it's probably not surprising that the impact is going to be lower than if you had a more permissive kind of zoning reform," said Daniel Kuhlmann, assistant professor of real estate and urban planning at the University of Arizona. Kuhlmann said loosening zoning rules has the potential to encourage more diverse housing options. But even in cities that have made more permissive reforms, change has been slow overall. "These changes are always going to be slow and and, you know, development and redevelopment takes time, but I think it's ... moving generally in the right direction." Fredericton has allowed one extra unit in most homes since the 1970s, and last year expanded that allowance to all low-rise residential lots across the city, said Shasta Stairs, spokesperson for the city, in an email. City permits to create extra units have climbed from five in 2020 to 20 in 2024. "Therefore, in the Fredericton context [secondary dwelling units] happen at a very gradual pace and are spread throughout the city," Stairs said.
