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Newfoundland and Labrador needs more houses, and one advocate says it’s going to take a multi-pronged approach to boost construction.
Kelly Rogers, an executive with the Canadian Home Builders Association’s Newfoundland and Labrador branch, said the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows new housing construction in the province as “mixed.”
“It’s generally showing a positive year-to-date trend in urban areas, despite some recent monthly volatility. The year-to-date housing starts from January to October … it was 880 units,” she told CBC News.
In 2012, when the housing construction sector was “booming,” she said housing starts were 3,885.
“We’re a long way from those steps,” Rogers said.
There are a number of factors that can depress housing affordability and supply, she said, like higher interest rates, restrictive mortgage rules, development changes, red tape, as well as labour shortages.
Over the summer, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a GST rebate for first time home buyers, something Rogers said would result in significant savings for those customers. However, the bill wasn’t passed.
‘A huge feat’
A 2024 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report estimated Newfoundland and Labrador needed 60,000 new housing units built in the next six years, which would mean 10,000 new homes a year.
“That’s quite significant and it is a huge feat, for sure,” said Rogers.
During the recent provincial election, the Progressive Conservatives pledged to build 10,000 homes over five years.
Rogers said to ramp up construction there needs to be targeted investment in housing to improve infrastructure. A big barrier to construction outside of St. John’s is municipal water, sewer and road systems capacity, she said.
“We also need to remove the barriers to factory built homes, one of which includes financial institutions not offering proper construction financing products for modular homes,” Rogers said.
The recently passed federal budget earmarked an initial $13 billion over the next five years to “supercharge” the housing industry, with money for developing factory-built housing and other affordable home options.
“There’s still all kinds of regulations in place. It’s not as easy as just saying, ‘OK, let’s build 1,000 modular homes.’ There’s so many barriers to that,” Rogers said.
Red tape a ‘major focus’
Housing Minister Joedy Wall said building 10,000 homes in the next few years is an “ambitious goal” but the new Progressive Conservative government is ready for it.
Wall said reducing red tape for municipalities will be a “major focus we’re going to be looking at,” adding — as a former mayor — he understands different towns have different regulations.
“At the [Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador] event in Corner Brook just a couple of weeks back … many towns want to have the chat, wanting to be part of the solution, which is great because as a provincial government we cannot do this alone,” he said.
Wall said the province is also looking at different types of builds, modular homes and micro-units.
Wall, who was speaking during a ground-breaking ceremony for a Habitat Humanity duplex in Mount Pearl at the time, said he hadn’t spoken with his federal colleagues on how federal initiatives could help the province boost its housing supply.
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