Housing Crisis Digest #1
Immigration, Education Deficits, and Workforce Pipelines
1. Era of ‘unlimited supply of cheap foreign labour is over,’ minister says
Source: CTV News, November 13, 2024
Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Wednesday said “the age of unlimited supply of cheap foreign labour is over,” and that employers may need to offer higher wages to attract more Canadian workers.
2. Immigration prevented a recession last year, but looming changes could stall growth: economists
Source: CBC News, October 25, 2024
Reducing the number of new admissions to the country could have negative consequences for the economy and pose challenges for commerce, according to business advocates and economists alike.
Economic measures such as the gross domestic product (GDP) have been moving in a positive direction, economists say, in part because Canada's population has continued to increase due to rising immigration levels.
3. Liberal government's immigration plan will cut housing gap almost in half, report says
Source: CBC News, November 15, 2024
The Liberal government's recent reduction of immigration levels will nearly cut the need for new housing units in half by 2030, says a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
"Assuming that the population evolves in line with the government's projection, we estimate that the 2025-2027 immigration levels plan will reduce Canada's housing gap in 2030 by 534,000 units (45 per cent)," the report published Friday said.
4. Scapegoating immigration ignores B.C.'s broader housing shortfalls, say experts
Source: Times Colonist, November 13, 2024
“When the economy is working, immigrants are good. When the economy doesn’t work, immigrants are the scapegoat,” said Carlos Teixeira, geography professor with UBC Okanagan.
Selected Quotes:
His paper continued: “The findings also revealed that in addition to facing employment and housing market challenges similar to other immigrant groups in Vancouver, Mexican immigrants experienced housing discrimination related to suspicions about undocumented immigration.”
[…]
Chris Friesen, COO of Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), said many immigrants have special housing needs that are not always met by market forces.
[…]
According to Lauster, the federal government’s planned immigration reductions should provide a meaningful boost to home affordability and availability.
[…]
Meanwhile, Teixeira is concerned about the mainstreaming of racism against immigrants and visible minorities. Despite this, he said his surveys suggest immigrants remain hopeful.
5. 3 of 10 B.C. municipalities under provincial housing mandate hit 1-year target
Source: CBC News, November 15, 2024
“The province announced housing targets for an initial 10 communities under its Housing Supply Act in September of 2023, which sets out the total minimum number of net new housing units that must be completed each year over a five-year period.
Net new means new units that are ready for move-in, minus units that were lost through demolition.”
6. Ontario has over a million homes in the pipeline, but needs developers to put shovels in the ground: report
Source: CBC News, March 12, 2023
The figure reflects the number of homes developers have been approved for permits to build, but have not yet materialized. Once approved by municipalities, there is no set timeline by which a developer must build the homes.
Selected Quotes:
Toronto's chief planner Gregg Lintern said the city approved an average of over 29,700 residential units a year from 2017 to 2021. During that same period, only around 16,000 units were built annually.
That creates an average yearly surplus of approximately 13,700 units, ensuring a "steady supply of approved housing," he said in a statement.
[…]
"We also know that not every unit that gets approved gets built," he said. "And I think we need much more of an investigation into why that happens."
7. Two massive Victoria developments to forge ahead, others may get shelved
Source: Times Colonist, August 4, 2024
Rory Kulmala, chief executive of the Vancouver Island Construction Association, said the industry has been working flat out for years with the push to add housing everywhere and it may be running into a capacity issue. […]
Kulmala said the construction tempo has more than doubled at the same time, so they are doing more with fewer bodies.
“We can only build so much, so fast right now,” he said.
8. Increasing The Supply Of New Housing Units Will Require Significant Increases In Canada’s Residential And Non-residential Construction Labour Forces
Source: Press Release, BuildForce Canada, April 11, 2024
BuildForce Canada released its Residential Scenario Outlook, 2024 to 2033 report today. It finds that, for the construction industry to address the housing supply gap identified by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) of 3.5 million additional housing units this decade over and above what it normally builds, the residential construction sector will need to grow its labour force by 83% above 2023 levels – to just under 1.04 million workers.
9. Impact of Federal Changes to International Student Study Permits
Source: Media Release, Council of Ontario Universities, October 18, 2024
As a result of the changes, Ontario universities are projecting financial losses of more than $300 million in 2024-25, compared to 2023, doubling to more than $600 million the following year, if trends continue. That’s nearly a $1-billion financial impact in the first two years alone.
10. Universities should educate – employers should train
Source: The Globe & Mail, September 3, 2013
Last year was dominated by the discussion of the so-called skills gap, a phenomenon recently found not credible by economist Don Drummond. If indeed the statistics don't bear out a serious mismatch between skills and jobs in Canada, the conversation should move away from turning universities into job training centres and toward the role employers can play in preparing graduates for jobs.