Concerned about housing? Let’s not forget about the foundation

There’s been a great deal of talk lately—and not enough action—when it comes to housing. It’s been described as one of the government's core priorities, but when the prime minister and his cabinet met a few weeks ago, they emerged without anything concrete to announce, and faced a few days’ worth of bad headlines. Lesson learned. Mary Van Buren is the president of the Canadian Construction Association. Photograph courtesy of CCA. Heading into a caucus meeting in min-September in London, Ont., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an investment of $74-million to fast-track building some 2,000 new homes there, casting it as a first step with more to come. On his way out of the meeting, he announced the removal of GST on new rental apartments. These are moves in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go because Canada’s need for housing is critical. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has estimated the country needs to build 3.5-million more homes by 2030 than we are currently on track for— especially if we want to address the important issue of housing affordability. Recently, people have been tying the housing shortage to immigration, pointing to Canada’s increased levels of newcomers and the pressure that this places on housing. For example, a July report from TD economists states, “continuing with a high-growth immigration strategy could widen the housing shortfall by about a half-million units within just two years.” The paradox is that to get more housing, we need more workers to build it. The construction sector, like most others, is facing significant challenges in recruiting workers. While labour force gains have been made in 2023, our industry remains concerned about projected retirements and an ongoing labour shortage that will result in nearly 300,000 jobs needing to be filled by 2032. The truth is that the workforce we need cannot be created overnight—and we need them now. Our sector is not sitting still. We have launched a major recruitment campaign to attract and retain new talent to construction from traditionally underrepresented groups. We have partnered with leading organizations like the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum to attract Canadians to a career in the trades. But, given the size of the shortfall and the urgency of the problem, this is not enough, so immigration must be part of the answer. To compound the complexity of the issue, something foundational has been left out of the narrative. A house—or an apartment or condo building—doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Any new dwelling space that gets created is built atop a foundation of visible and invisible infrastructure to ensure its functionality and livability. Think about road networks and bridges to connect residents to other parts of the city or town; the power grid; water and sewer systems; telecommunications infrastructure; public transportation; and environmental infrastructure. To say nothing of the necessary social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, parks and recreation, libraries, daycares, and community centres, all of which must be built and maintained by construction workers. So, solving Canada’s housing crisis means also paying attention to what lies beneath it: the foundational infrastructure. It’s about making sure that infrastructure we already have is in good shape and ready for increased loads, and about planning and developing the additional infrastructure we need. It’s about growing our construction sector. Planning is key. This is not something you can just throw money at and hope for the best. As a country, planning has not always been our strength. For example, a 2021 report by the European Court of Auditors comparing how Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States manage large transport infrastructure projects found only Canada lacks coherent, institutionalized, long-term coordination and planning. Workforce capacity building also requires holistic thinking and planning. Hopefully, rather than seeing a series of small-scale housing announcements across the country, we’ll see a long-term national plan for foundational infrastructure and measures to increase the construction workforce. Bold action is needed, backed by a thoughtful plan and—yes—increased investment. This is necessary because our foundational infrastructure—and the construction sector that will build and maintain it—underpin more than housing. They go to the heart of our economic competitiveness as a nation. This is not hyperbole. Consider just the transportation aspect of our foundational infrastructure—for which, as noted above, we don’t have coherent, institutionalized, long-term coordination and planning. That is how we move our goods within the country and to foreign markets. Fully two thirds of Canada’s GDP relies on trade. As for the construction sector, it is the backbone of the Canadian economy, employing 1.5-million Canadians and generating roughly $149-billion to the economy annually—7.5 per cent of Canada’s GDP. So, as we grapple with the housing crisis, let's not lose sight of what surrounds and lies beneath it all. Our focus must encompass not just the visible aspects of housing, but also the resilient, well-maintained foundational infrastructure that supports it and the workforce essential to bring it to fruition. A comprehensive approach isn't just beneficial, it's also essential to securing a brighter future for all Canadians and driving our nation's economic progress. Mary Van Buren is the president of the Canadian Construction Association which represents more than 20,000 member firms drawn from 63 local and provincial integrated partner associations across Canada. The Hill Times