`Acute' labour shortages to hinder housing targets

CMHC expects even best case scenarios to fall well short of affordability goals

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says even under best-case scenarios, housing starts will fall well below the affordable housing supply targets it has set for Ontario, B.C. and Quebec to reach by 2030.

In those three provinces and Alberta there will only be enough labour capacity over the next eight years to increase the number of housing starts by between 30 and 50 per cent under best-case scenarios, the federal housing agency said in a report released Thursday.

“We didn't think the challenges were this acute. We thought that there was more capacity in order to achieve these goals,” said Dana Senagama, a senior specialist in market insights at CMHC and one of the report's authors.

“These provinces are going to have problems, but how much they will have... is what was more surprising.”

Senagama's report concluded Ontario, Quebec and B.C. will have to double the number of starts that they can produce under best-case scenarios to help reach CMHC'S national affordability target of 3.5 million more homes built by 2030.

Alberta shouldn't have as much trouble increasing housing supply, even under maximum capacity conditions, because it has fewer supply and price pressures and steady population growth.

CMHC describes a best-case scenario as a market where there is the highest percentage of people in the population working in residential construction and the lowest number of construction workers per unit being built in the last 25 years.

But best-case scenarios can also have downfalls, it noted.

If construction workers are stretching to meet demand and new staff don't join their ranks, backlogs can form.

Labour capacity problems will be worst in Ontario, where the population and price pressures are highest, but Quebec and B.C. will also not have the workforce needed, CMHC said.

It found the number of workers per residential unit under construction has been decreasing in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., leaving each worker with more tasks to complete.

To maximize resources, CMHC suggested focusing on building apartments.

“Labour is able to get more things done within the same building, so it's easier to move equipment and cranes as opposed to in those big, low rise subdivisions, where it appears ... that more workers are needed to move between one house to another,” said Senagama.

“That suggests to us that there's more capacity in building up, but the problem with high-density construction is where do we find that right product mix that's suitable for home homeowners or homebuyers?”

To boost the number of workers, it suggested more education and incentives to get people between the ages of 15 and 24 to work in construction, fair compensation for those in the sector and more targeted immigration programs.

We didn't think the challenges were this acute. We though that there was more capacity in order to achieve these goals.