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.

 

Read 'Less is More'

 

Read the 'Executive Summary' for all three reports from the Task Force for Housing & Climate

our work

Four Pathways to Housing Affordability
November 19, 2024

The Blueprint for More and Better Housing, released in early 2024, provided a plan for Canada to build 5.8 million affordable, resilient and low-carbon homes. Although many of the recommendations have proven popular with policymakers and the public, getting buy-in for the overall vision can be difficult. Too often, those policymakers and the public see […]

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Ontario Communities Falling Behind on Homebuilding
November 18, 2024

Over the past six years, from Canada Day 2018 to Canada Day 2024, Canada’s population has grown by over 4.2 million people, requiring a substantial increase in Canada’s housing supply. This rapid naturally leads to the question, Which communities are getting it done when it comes to homebuilding? In this memo, Ontario Communities Falling Behind […]

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Less is More: Where we Build 5.8 Million Homes Matters
November 13, 2023

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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Getting International Students To Stay and Work in Canada is at Odds with Our Policies
October 4, 2023

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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Addressing Forestry’s Skilled Labour Shortage: Insights from Women Working in Forestry
September 19, 2023

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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Working Together to Build 1.5 Million Homes
August 17, 2023

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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