The first quarter is over, we hope you were able to meet your goals!
We have been happy with our progress so far this year. We hit many of the business targets we set for ourselves. A few of them are listed below.
We went firm on a new development with a new JV partner
We hired a new construction team
We sold a significant number of client projects this quarter for 2024
We hired a Development manager & Architectural designer
Our increase in staffing is to facilitate better service for our clients and partners. With our added team members we can now take projects through planning, design, and construction all in-house. It is our belief this will give us the ability to move projects through the various stages of development with the smoothest experience possible and shorten our timelines!
Here’s a quick progress photo of our most recent coach house. The drywall is complete on the inside as well so we are excited to start completing the interior finishes next week.
Our new purchase is a blank slate!
We are beginning to take this project through the development process and add some much needed housing units in our quickly growing Durham Region.
Premiere Shuts Down Ontario Wide Fourplex Policy
Some of you may have heard that the premiere decided recently he would not be implementing a province-wide fourplex policy. With all of the recent momentum, we have seen when it comes to increasing housing density in our communities, for me, at least this announcement comes as a bit of a surprise. The federal government is pushing for a 4-unit policy across the province however, the provincial government does not want to write it into law. The province would prefer each municipality to decide on its own how best to meet its housing targets.
Ford’s opinion on the matter is that he believes that putting mid-sized multi-unit homes would create outrage in existing communities. He proposes that the right types of homes for the province to focus on are Single-family and Townhouses.
They also believe that it would not be very effective at creating more housing, as the as of right 3-unit program “hasn’t taken off.” Only 21,000 permits have been submitted under this program thus far according to Ontario’s housing minister Paul Calandra.
Let us peel back the curtain and see what merit these points have.
Multi-Unit Homes Will Create Outrage In Existing Communities
Multi unit homes will create outrage in existing communities. This point certainly has the most to stand on. Change is rarely welcomed with open arms and will be met with opposition. However, where are people supposed to go? Three large demographics in Canada are retirees, millennials and immigrants and all three of these groups often can’t afford single family homes or don’t need that much space at their stage of life.
Personally we are starting to see more people beginning to accept that housing needs are changing. A neighbor recently who was opposing our development is now in full support and allowing us to have a right of way on their property so we can have an additional lot!
We are having retiree’s in established neighborhoods contact us for garden suites so their grown children can inherit the primary home. We are also helping someone plan a triplex beside their existing home so their grandchildren can live in it someday. All of these people live in established neighborhoods and on the surface would be people you would expect to want things to keep to the status quo.
It is our belief that as more people see the problem close to home where a loved one can’t find a suitable place to live in their desired neighborhood we will see a shift from the majority being against intensification to them welcoming it into their communities.
The Province Should Focus On Single Family Buildings and Townhouses
It would be my view that this is not the case. Single-family dwellings take up the most land of any development style. This forces developers to create the fewest homes on any parcel of land they are looking to develop.
With fewer homes per unit of area, the homes must be sold at a higher price to cover the land and development costs. Given that we have an affordability crisis and this is the worst use of land in terms of affordability, it should not be our focus. These units indeed should still be created as we need to use all of our resources towards creating more housing. Many builders and tradespeople are familiar with this type of construction, and putting severe limits on greenfield development will only exasperate our housing problem.
Low-density single-family housing comes with another downside that I have rarely heard spoken, it lowers per capita GDP. Canada’s per capita GDP was 54,917.66 USD in 2022 only 72% of the productivity seen per worker in the United States. Density allows individuals to interact with a larger number of people, allowing information transfer to happen quickly. With faster information transfer, people and ideas evolve more rapidly. As people grow more rapidly, they can hyper-specialize and become extremely productive in a chosen field. Our densest city Vancouver has only half the population density of New York. Studies have found that once commutes end up over an hour people tend to look for other employment opportunities. If people can’t afford to live within an hour of a city center they find employment in auxiliary cities which are inherently much less productive. With many areas in the GTA being unaffordable and young people, our most productive members of society being told “drive till you qualify” to purchase a home, we are setting ourselves up for an even less productive population in the future than we have now.
Perhaps the focus on low-density housing in Canada has further reaching effects than our premier realizes.
Three Units As Of Right Hasn’t Taken Off
On the contrary to Paul Calandra, in my opinion, 21,000 is a significant number of permits to issue. The three-unit as-of-right program was introduced in Ontario in 2022. In 2022, only 108,080 building permits in total were issued in Ontario. If we split the 21,000 permits between 2022 and 2023, that would mean roughly 10% of all permits per year were for adding third units on residential properties!
As well, those of us who have built third units know zoning restrictions can make it challenging to find properties where you can build your third unit. Financing these units as well in the early years was extremely difficult, with it still being a challenge to this day. Many major banks are still restrictive with their policies on financing coach houses. On top of this, your mom-and-pop investor or your everyday homeowner is who looks to create these units. Both parties have been feeling the strain from the higher interest rates over the last several years. Add in that many people weren’t aware this was an option or how to create them, 21,000 applications start to look like a promising number for the three units as of the right policy.
Overall I believe that a province wide policy would be a good thing. Municipalities would still be able to govern where these buildings can be built with lot size restrictions and parking requirements. The policy would however force municipalities to create by-laws that would allow these types of properties to be built more often and help us create more density and more affordable housing.
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For any concerns or inquires you can reach us at info@northlakesdevelopments.ca or through our website contact page.