The Chair of the Windsor Essex Home Builders' Association believes new changes announced by the provincial government when it comes to planning are a step in the right direction.
Housing minister Paul Calandra announced a new set of planning rules at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference this week, which he says will help more homes get built in communities across the province.
Calandra says the new Provincial Planning Statement builds on the government's Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act by helping municipalities support growth through reducing and streamlining planning rules, simplifying approvals to build homes and eliminating duplication.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Brent Klundert says these new rules are based on consultations with those in the home building industry.
"That in itself was promising, knowing that the minister was going out to industry to get their opinion of how things worked and what the hiccups were. The highlights of what was published are certainly things that our association has brought forward to the minister as things that would help," he said.
Klundert says in their talks with Calandra he definitely understood that the best way to mitigate these huge increases in pricing is to create a greater supply.
"A lot of this definitely goes toward creating a greater supply of shovel ready building lots where housing can go quicker and it can only make things more affordable. It won't undue past wrongs, but it'll definitely create an inventory for the future."
He says one of the biggest hang ups in Windsor-Essex, and most of Ontario, is getting lots ready to be serviced and built on.
"The message that the minister was getting was fairly consistent right across the board. It's shovel ready properties where if the infrastructure is available then the shovel can hit the ground in a short period of time. Windsor and Essex County, we definitely see it here, and right across Ontario," he said.
Klundert says in a lot of cases it takes years to get through the planning process due to zoning, so they welcome the changes.
The province had been consulting for several months on a new planning statement, and other key changes include encouraging the building of more homes near major transit stations and on underused low-density lands such as shopping plazas and malls.
- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides