Flagship report from RBC Economics offers pragmatic solutions to the housing crisis

1. Aggressively expand the construction sector's labour pool by prioritizing immigrant skills, recognizing credentials from other jurisdictions and setting ambitious targets for trade enrollments.
2. Develop and adopt innovative designs, building techniques and technology to boost productivity through prefabricated housing and pre-approved building designs.
3. Speed up housing project approvals by reducing regulatory requirements, harmonizing building codes and prioritizing projects with faster turnaround times.
4. Ease zoning restrictions to allow more density in cities and diversify the types of houses built to make more productive use of land.
5. Lower the cost of building new housing by using more cost-efficient materials and modulating government charges.
6. Change the housing supply mix with incentives to build purpose-built apartments by waiving development charges and using publicly owned land.
7. Expand the housing stock from within by reclaiming units from short-term rental businesses, making it easier to build secondary suites and convert non-residential buildings.

"We're working with Canadians across the country — homeowners, builders, policymakers — to help ensure home ownership remains part of the Canadian dream. Efforts will have to go beyond what's been done so far, and we hope these pragmatic ideas help rebalance supply and demand and do so in ways that continue to drive Canadian prosperity," said John Stackhouse, SVP, Office of the CEO, RBC. Read the full report here.

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SOURCE RBC