York Region has 46,000 housing units in the works, but affordable home ownership remains a pipe dream for many with none built in 2023.
Region staff reported housing units are in various stages of approval as of March 2024, with about 16,000 units under construction. However, the region missed its affordability target of 15 per cent of new units meeting affordability thresholds for the sixth year in a row, with zero per cent of units built in 2023 being for affordable ownership.
“Decline in affordability is multi-faceted and driven by both supply and demand factors,” the report said. “Lack of affordable ownership opportunities puts pressure on the rental market to provide affordable options.”
The units represent a supply of five to seven years of growth. The 46,000 units are made up of 10,661 registered unbuilt units and 35,487 draft-approved units. In addition, a total of about 112,000 units are somewhere in the housing planning pipeline.
But the homes getting built are largely still unaffordable. In 2023, zero per cent of the units built for ownership were affordable to those at moderate income levels. That has been the case for multiple consecutive years, in 2021 and, in 2022, only one per cent of new units for ownership reached that threshold.
The staff report said that based on the provincial policy statement, affordable home ownership is set based on the lowest-earning 60 per cent of people. The figure is based on what those people could spend at a maximum of 30 per cent of their income on mortgage payments, mortgage insurance and property taxes.
In 2023 for York Region, that would mean the maximum affordable house price would be $536,706, with the region's annual household income at the sixth decile being $155,535.
The report notes that condominium units were not tracked due to a lack unit-specific data since 2021, but that most such units would also not be identified as affordable. However, some small condominium units (bachelor/one bedroom) may meet affordability criteria not captured in the region's data.
Rental options are still coming up, with 1,271 new rental units built in 2023, more than three times the previous highest mark in the last decade of 378. That includes 935 purpose-built units and 336 additional dwelling units.
Purpose-built rental units tended to be at $1,664 per month, according to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Data, while condominium units were more unaffordable at an average rate of $2,617 on the secondary market.
More rentals are coming in the future, with 34 developments in the approval process representing 8,200 purpose-built units.
Richmond Hill Regional Councillor Joe DiPaola said at a June 13 council meeting that the amount of units in the pipeline does show the region’s commitment to building, but there is a need for builders to get moving.
“We’re turning a corner,” DiPaolo said. “That demand is penting up and we’ll get to a critical point where, if the rates come down a little bit, homebuyers are going to be buying again.
“We are definitely doing enough work to reach all the provincial targets once the construction begins,” he said.
Funding an issue
Municipalities have made the case that housing development is being held up more by market conditions, rather than any delay in municipal planning departments.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said provincial and federal governments are withholding infrastructure funding based on building permits getting pulled by developers.
“We need to stop this tying municipalities’ funding to something we don’t control," Taylor said. "This is the ultimate proof. We have more than enough in the pipeline approved directly ... We do need the money to get the infrastructure in place, so when the market is there, the infrastructure is there.”
