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Toronto board of trade calls for regulatory reforms to spur housing growth
The report says Ontario could miss its 1.5 million-home target by more than 550,000 homes and needs simpler rules to speed construction.
On Thursday, The Toronto Region Board of Trade published a report urging Ontario to amend zoning and building code rules, warning the province will fall more than 550,000 homes short of its 1.5 million target by 2031.
CEO Giles Gherson described zoning and building codes as "very fragmented" and "out of date" across Ontario, with Toronto builders facing dozens of distinct requirements that add "a huge amount of cost and delay to housing development."
Gherson pointed to Edmonton as proof that flexible zoning drives housing growth, noting the city has "more flexible permissive zoning" and has been "a fast-growth city for the last five decades" compared to Toronto's restrictive approach.
The board recommended developing a provincial zoning code with standardized frameworks for all municipalities and allowing single-stair buildings up to six storeys; implementation challenges mean municipalities would need years to update plans, making the 2031 deadline unrealistic.
Toronto-Area home prices surged around 187 per cent since 2006, far outpacing 51 per cent inflation, as Gherson warned the affordability crisis threatens the next generation, which views home ownership as "really a pipe dream.