Solway's pointing fingers in the wrong direction on the lack affordable housing

Comment on Larry Solway's irritation about housing, by David Foster, an Ottawa housing consultant who works with the building industry to improve how they operate their businesses and to help them develop and market more innovative technology

  When it comes to housing, Larry's misdiagnosis of the problem would lead him to treat the wrong disease. Before inviting government to "take the reins" on affordable rental housing, he needs to examine the real causes of the current shortage. Yuppies living in luxury condos in Toronto did not create this crisis. Nor is the homeless problem an evil inflicted upon us by mean-spirited developers. If you want to find culprits, head down to Toronto City Hall or Queen's Park!
  The real black-hats in this situation are governments-federal, provincial and municipal - who have imposed a usurious regime of development fees, levies, infrastructure charges and taxes on any new housing development. The net result? In the Ottawa area, these government-imposed costs can exceed $30,000 per unit. Add land costs and construction costs to this, and it's no mystery why so little affordable housing is being created. It's simply not a viable business proposition.
  Canada's home building industry is probably the most efficient in the world. When I look at the construction budget of builders in Ottawa, real costs have gone down steadily over the last decade. However, this increase in efficiency has been more than off-set by governments treating the housing industry as a cash-cow available to fill any budget shortfall that comes along.
  To invite governments to resume their previous role in housing is pure folly. We need more affordable housing, not more government housing bureaucrats. So what should be done? To start with, it's time to look at shelter allowances for those unable to find affordable rental housing - aim the cash at those in need, not at buildings or landlords. Next, governments need to be held to account for the leading role they play in this crisis through driving up the cost of housing. If governments want more affordable housing - rental or market - they must stop imposing costs that make these projects financially impossible. I see red every time Mel Lastman bemoans the current housing situation while Toronto quietly imposes tens of thousands of dollars in costs on any affordable housing unit that does get built. Let's see municipalities waive fees on affordable rental and market housing. Better yet, lets see municipalities create land trusts that would provide non-profit housing providers with some real assistance. In order to deliver more affordable housing to those who need it will require some clear thinking and innovation - two things governments are notoriously short of.
  The last thing we need is to have government back in the home building business or re-imposing rent controls. They tried this before. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

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