Building More Housing: Toronto's Long-Stalled Project Reveals Challenges Faced by Mark Carney
** blog post title: **The Rollercoaster Journey of Toronto's Affordable Housing Development: A Glimpse into the Obstacles Ahead
Hey there, folks! Edward Keenan here, your friendly city columnist for the Star, ready to fill you in on the latest happenings in Toronto's housing scene. Get in touch with me at [email protected].
Recently, a significant event took place in the neighborhood of Willowdale: a rectangular box was lifted into the sky and then placed neatly on the ground, marking the beginning of a rent-geared-to-income housing development for our city's homeless senior citizens. This project is an example of a modular construction method—a strategy that's been successful in countries like Sweden and Japan. But the path to this point has been far from straightforward.
**Mayor Olivia Chow hailed the event as an "important day," and it certainly was—a potential peek into the future of addressing affordability issues in Toronto and beyond. However, it also offered a glimpse of the hurdles we may still need to overcome to achieve meaningful progress.
A glimpse of the future due to the modular construction method, which allows for faster and cheaper production of homes compared to traditional construction techniques. This approach, combined with government land ownership and government oversight, could potentially help ease our housing supply bottleneck. Notably, Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a promise to employ this technique on a grand scale across the country as part of his mission to "reinvigorate government involvement in housing construction."
** The Liberal government plans to allocate $25 billion in financing to ramp up the modular and prefabricated home industry, create a government developer to execute projects, and develop some of the housing on public lands. The Willowdale project appears to be the local embodiment of this vision. Yet, there's a noticeable problem:
The approval for this project took place in 2021, aiming for the units to be ready by 2022. Unfortunately, we are now years behind schedule, and the estimated cost has skyrocketed from $14.6 million to an eye-watering $36.3 million. But fear not, as challenges like this aren't unique to the Willowdale project.
Several similar projects in the city, such as one on Cedarvale Avenue and another on Macy Avenue, have been completed within their projected timelines and budgets. This success demonstrates the potential for modular construction to deliver the speedy results that the Liberal government aspires to achieve through their plan. However, it's also important to acknowledge the obstacles that can derail such projects—obstacles that often stem from politics and bureaucracy.
**The primary culprit for the Willowdale housing project's delays and cost overruns seems to be politics. The project was met with opposition from local luxury home developers and NIMBY neighbors, who collectively fought against it. Shamefully, they were joined by spineless local and provincial politicians who refused to stand up for the project despite having the power to do so.
Together, these entities leveraged the labyrinth of regulatory and appeals processes to persistently impede construction progress. To add insult to injury, the already-completed pieces of the project rotted away on a holding lot and then in a warehouse, leading to the exorbitant cost increases.
To avoid repeating such mistakes, it's crucial for any government working to adopt this modular construction strategy at scale to anticipate and address the potential opposition at every turn. Moreover, streamlining the bureaucratic process and fostering an enabling political environment will be essential for scaling up both the approach to overcoming these objections and the modular production itself.
Ultimately, the fact that construction on the Cummer Avenue housing development has begun is positive news. However, like many projects in this city, the journey has been marked by delays. As our governments gear up to replicate this model across the country, let's learn from the struggles encountered along the way to ensure we don't waste precious time and resources.
Remember, folks, these are just my thoughts! City columnists are responsible for interpreting facts, data, and events in their own way. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions!
Sources:
- "Cummer Ave. project will provide homes for seniors," City of Toronto, Archived
- "Mark Carney backs Cumpstone's municipal housing vision," Toronto Star
- "Modular Construction: Opportunities and Challenges," The Canadian Press
- The Willowdale housing project, a rent-geared-to-income development for homeless senior citizens in Toronto, marks the beginning of an exploration into the modular construction method, which could potentially aid in easing the housing supply bottleneck.
- Mayor Olivia Chow deems the commencement of the Willowdale project an "important day," hinting at a potential future for addressing affordability issues in Toronto, but also highlighting the challenges we may face to achieve meaningful progress.
- The Liberal government, in its bid to ramp up the modular and prefabricated home industry, has pledged $25 billion in financing, hoping to develop this approach on public lands and create a government developer to execute projects.
- Despite the Willowdale project being delayed years beyond its proposed timeline and experiencing significant cost escalation from the initial estimate, other similar projects in the city have successfully been completed within their budgets and timelines.
- The primary cause of the Willowdale project's delays and cost overruns appears to be politics, with opposition from luxury home developers and NIMBY neighbors, joined by local and provincial politicians, prolonging the regulatory and appeals processes.
- To avoid repeating the adverse effects of politics and bureaucracy on similar projects in the future, governments must anticipate potential opposition, streamline the bureaucratic process, and foster an enabling political environment to facilitate the scaling up of modular construction.
- As the Canadian government attempts to replicate this modular construction model across the country, it is essential to learn from the struggles faced during the Willowdale project to ensure the optimal use of time, resources, and investment in Toronto's affordable housing development.
