There is a broad consensus that Canada is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has estimated that 5.8 million homes, nationally, need to be built by 2030 in order to address the housing affordability crisis. In Ontario, the provincial target is 1.5 million homes.
As part of the global effort to mitigate the effects of climate change and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, Canada has committed to an ambitious emissions reduction plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and 40% lower than 2005 levels by 2030. More than tripling the rate of new housing construction, which is what is required to reach CMHC’s 5.8 million new homes by 2030, will drive significant change and economic activity throughout the country.
Our new report, Less is More: Where We Build 5.8 Million Homes Matters, funded by the Clean Economy Fund, is part of a three-report package of GHG emissions modelling submitted to the Task Force for Housing & Climate for the purpose of better understanding the three biggest sources of GHG emissions associated building 5.8 million new homes by 2030: building energy performance; embodied emissions from construction materials and supportive infrastructure; and land use planning decisions. For the full package of research, visit: housingandclimate.ca/ghgs
The report considers two scenarios for where 5.8 million new homes are built: a business-as-usual scenario where we continue past growth patterns and a targeted infill scenario, where new housing construction that would have been land-intensive sprawl is built within existing settlement areas. Drawing on land use change and housing construction data over 2011 and 2021, it estimates that the infill scenario will avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and avoid 4.5 MT of CO2 emissions in 2030.
There is a broad consensus that Canada is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has estimated that 5.8 million homes, nationally, need to be built by 2030 in order to address the housing affordability crisis. In Ontario, the provincial target is 1.5 million homes. As part of […]
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International students are an invaluable part of the prospective Canadian workforce that can help address the critical skilled labour shortages facing many Canadian industries, including construction, manufacturing, and agriculture. However, Canada’s current policies are at odds with the objective of having international students stay and work in Canada. If this is unaddressed, Canada will fail […]
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Canada’s forestry sector is facing a labour shortage due to a wave of baby boomer retirements and little interest from younger generations to pursue a career in forestry. Despite the need for more workers, women still comprise only 17% of the sector in Canada. One study also found that women in forestry are rarely in […]
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To keep up with an aging and growing population, it is projected that Ontario will need to build 1.5 million homes in the next ten years. Yet, Ontario has never built more than 850,000 homes in a ten-year period. Who is responsible for making this 1.5 million homes goal a reality, while making it happen […]
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Rents have been increasing rapidly in many parts of the country, primarily caused by a lack of accessible, climate-friendly, affordable, and market-rate purpose-built rental units to house a growing population. Increasing rents inflict the most significant harm on the lowest-income Canadians, including seniors, people on fixed incomes, single-parent led households, students, newcomers to Canada, and […]
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As Canada advances clean growth and climate action, tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of roles could be created in regions across the country. However, sectors are sounding the alarm about a challenge this growth could create: it may very well worsen labour shortages. This concern is valid. Without finding more skilled workers, increases in […]
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