Ontario Chamber Reacts to Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act – Recognizing Bold Action to Address the Housing Crisis

(TORONTO– April 11, 2024) – Today, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s (OCC) President and CEO, Daniel Tisch, released the following statement:

“The Ontario Chamber of Commerce welcomes yesterday’s legislation to cut red tape and make it more affordable, easier and faster to build homes.

“We heard loud and clear that affordable housing is a top policy priority for Ontario’s business community in this years’ Ontario Economic Report. This bill includes forward -looking policy that implements many of the OCC’s housing recommendations in Home Stretched: Tackling Ontario’s Housing Affordability Crisis.

“Specifically, we welcome the elimination of arbitrary and expensive parking requirements near high-density transit stations, actions to promote ‘missing middle’ housing and streamlining modular housing construction. We encourage the government to go further by eliminating all exclusionary zoning requirements.

“Finally, we’re excited that this will make it easier for universities and colleges to build badly needed student housing. By exempting universities from planning requirements, we can achieve two goals at once : developing a highly-educated workforce, while tackling the housing crisis.”

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About the Ontario Chamber of Commerce
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) is the indispensable partner of business and Canada’s largest, most influential provincial chamber. It is an independent, non-profit advocacy and member services organization representing a diverse network of 60,000 members. The OCC’s mission is to convene, align and advance the interests of its members through principled policy work, value-added business services and broad engagement to drive competitiveness and economic growth in the province.

For more information, please contact:
Samir Janmohamed
Senior Public Affairs Specialist
Ontario Chamber of Commerce
samirjanmohamed@occ.ca | Mobile: (647) 882-9878

Backgrounder
In 2023, the OCC released Home Stretched: Tackling Ontario’s Housing Affordability Crisis Through Innovative Solutions and Partnerships. The policy brief provides all levels of government and industry with recommendations under the following themes: Labour and Demographics, the Housing Continuum, and Infrastructure and Land Use Planning.

Key recommendations include:

• Continue to establish and deliver on inclusive workforce development and immigration strategies to increase the labour pool needed to build more housing.
• Incentivize the development and preservation of affordable housing options along the continuum, including purpose-built rentals, missing middle, student, non-profit, cooperative, and supportive housing.
• Support the development and expansion of innovative technologies, data tools, retrofitting, building conversions, as well as mixed-use and climate-resilient green housing.
  Learnion more about the initiative by clicking here.