The Ontario Chamber of Commerce wants to be involved in the process to tackle the affordable housing crisis. The organization recently released a document outlining opportunities for the private, public, and non-profit sectors to explore innovative partnerships. Executive Director of our local chamber, Kelly Hollihan breaks it down for us.
The policy brief provides all levels of government and industry with recommendations under the following themes: Labour and Demographics, the Housing Continuum, and Infrastructure and Land Use Planning. Hollihan also touches on an interesting idea she heard about in the Muskoka region.
Key recommendations include:
· Continue to establish and deliver on inclusive workforce development and immigration strategies to increase the labour pool needed to build more housing.
· Incentivize the development and preservation of affordable housing options along the continuum, including purpose-built rentals, missing middle, student, non-profit, cooperative, and supportive housing.
· Support the development and expansion of innovative technologies, data tools, retrofitting, building conversions, as well as mixed-use and climate-resilient green housing.
“The growing mismatch between housing supply and demand in communities across Ontario has made it more difficult for employers to fill labour gaps, particularly as the global competition for talent heats up,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “To ensure the long-term resilience of our economy, we encourage governments to balance consultation with bold action, such as ending exclusionary zoning and working in partnership with public and private sector partners to address labour shortages.”
To help inform this brief, the OCC led a series of regional housing affordability roundtables with a diverse range of housing sector stakeholders. The Upper Ottawa Valley Chamber of Commerce was proud to contribute to the OCC’s Housing Affordability Initiative and look forward to working with all levels of government and industry to meet the housing needs of our communities.
(Written by: Kyle Robinson)
