Ontario REALTORS® are calling on all political parties and candidates running in the 2022 Ontario election to prioritize housing policies that will ensure future generations have a shot at owning a home.

• The Canadian dream of home ownership is on life support in Ontario
  • Home affordability is a province-wide problem – smaller, more rural communities are seeing rapid increases in housing prices unlike any other time in history
  • As of April, eight real estate markets in Ontario had an average home price over a million dollars, and six others are on the verge of breaking the million-dollar mark.
  • The average price of a home across Ontario has increased 70% – from $578K to $985K – since 2018.
• Ontario stands to lose its edge as a great place to raise a family and start a business because of the runaway cost of housing.
• OREA’s 2022 A Home for Everyone Election Platform puts forward 8 bold solutions that we are calling on all parties to adopt to save the Canadian Dream of home ownership in Ontario, including:
  • Doubling the Land Transfer Tax (LTT) Rebate for First-Time Home Buyers
  • Ending Exclusionary Zoning
  • Getting dirty money out of Ontario Real Estate
    
• See OREA’s 2022 Housing Platform on https://www.ahomeforeveryone.info/

OREA’s Bold Solutions

More Help for First-Time Home Buyers

Index the Land Transfer Tax (LTT) Rebate to Inflation

• Even with the current rebate, Ontarians will still be paying over $10,000 in LTT at the time of closing on their property.
• To keep pace with the rapid increase to housing prices, the LTT should be indexed to inflation and doubled from $4,000 to $8,000.

Build More Homes

End Exclusionary Zoning

• Local zoning rules continue to hold back much needed gentle density in high-growth urban areas of the Province.
• The Province should use the Planning Act to implement as-of-right zoning in Ontario’s highest-demand urban neighbourhoods to allow for the building of duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes on lots traditionally zoned for single-family housing.

Convert Underused Commercial Properties to Homes

• As Ontarians continue to embrace e-commerce and online retailers, buildings like shopping malls and retail strip plazas can be converted into affordable housing to support Ontario’s population demands.
• OREA wants to encourage governments to review the steps needed for property conversions from commercial to mixed-residential to eliminate barriers and fast-track these processes.

Ontario Housing Delivery Fund

• The creation of a housing delivery fund is one of the recommendations that came from the Ford government’s Housing Affordability Taskforce Report.
• The Province should build on this recommendation and align efforts with the Federal government as well as municipalities to reward those who are encouraging housing growth policy and investing in their communities.

Make Home Ownership More Affordable

Green Ontario Homes

• Home energy audits are a long-term tool that will allow homeowners to take the first step in figuring out what retrofits their home requires to operate at peak efficiency.
• OREA recommends that the Government of Ontario implement a voluntary Home Energy Audit program and provide incentives to encourage consumers to purchase green home retrofits.

Protect Consumers

Make Ontario a Leader in North America for Real Estate Regulation

• To demonstrate OREA’s dedication to ensuring that Ontario has the most well-regulated real estate market in North America, the Province should enact key regulations and move forward with specialty certifications.

Level the Housing Playing Field

Get Dirty Money out of Ontario Real Estate

• Building off a campaign promise from the Federal Liberals, the Government of Ontario should create an Ontario-made public beneficial ownership registry that would require home purchasers to identify themselves to land titled authorities to reduce instances of money laundering through real estate.

Fix the Ontario Land Tribunal

• OREA wants to put an end to letting politics influence planning processes by encouraging the government to empower the Tribunal to prioritize cases that would increase housing supply quickly, while hiring more adjudicators to tackle the growing backlog of cases as a result of COVID-19.

Questions & Answers

Q: OREA released an Election Housing Platform today. Tell us about it and how you think it will help solve Ontario’s housing affordability crisis?  

• The Canadian Dream of home ownership is on life support in Ontario.

• High-prices, lack of housing supply, are driving young families right out of the province to find a home they can afford.

• OREA’s 2022 Election Housing Platform: A Home for Everyone puts forward eight bold solutions to save the Canadian Dream of home ownership in Ontario.

• Some of our solutions include:

• Doubling the Land Transfer Tax (LTT) Rebate for First-Time Home Buyers
• Ending Exclusionary Zoning
• Getting dirty money out of Ontario Real Estate
• You can see our Election Housing Platform at www.AHomeForEveryone.Info.

• Ontario REALTORS® are calling on all political parties and candidates running in the 2022 Ontario election to prioritize housing policies that will ensure future generations have a shot at owning a home

Q: What is your advice to political party candidates running in the 2022 provincial election?

• Ontario REALTORS® are calling on all political parties and candidates running in the 2022 Ontario election to prioritize housing policies that will ensure future generations have a shot at owning a home.

• OREA’s Election Housing Platform: A Home for Everyone report that we released today outlines eight bold solutions to address Ontario’s housing affordability crisis.

• Our recommendations include:
  • Double the Land Transfer Tax (LTT) Rebate for First-Time Home Buyers – To keep pace with the rapid increase to housing prices, the LTT should be indexed to inflation and doubled from $4,000 to $8,000.
  • End Exclusionary Zoning – Local zoning rules continue to hold back much needed starter homes that people can afford. The Province should use the Planning Act to implement as-of-right zoning in Ontario’s highest-demand urban neighbourhoods to allow for the building of duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes on lots traditionally zoned for single-family housing.
  • Get dirty money out of Ontario Real Estate – The Government of Ontario should create an Ontario-made public beneficial ownership registry that would require home purchasers to identify themselves to land titled authorities to reduce instances of money laundering through real estate.

• All eight recommendations are available at www.AHomeForEveryone.Info.

Q: We saw a softening of sale and home prices in some markets in April. Some people say rising interest rates will continue to calm the market and help make housing more affordable. What do you say to that?

• Rising rates are only masking the real problem, which is a severe lack of housing supply.

• Ontario’s housing supply is a historic problem – for nearly three decades we’ve been underbuilding homes.

• We need to be building 100,000 homes a year just to keep up with demand or it will get worse.

• In OREA’s Election Housing Platform: A Home for Everyone, we outline 8 bold solutions to address Ontario’s housing affordability crisis.

• One of the recommendations is to end exclusionary zoning, because as it stands, local zoning rules continue to hold back much needed starter homes that people can afford. The Province should use the Planning Act to implement as-of-right zoning in Ontario’s highest-demand urban neighbourhoods to allow for the building of duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes on lots traditionally zoned for single-family housing.

Q: You often hear the phrase, ‘drive until you qualify’. If you can’t afford a home in the city of your choice, you keep driving until you reach a market that’s affordable. But you’re saying that’s no longer possible?  

• Drive ‘til you qualify is no longer realistic, especially for first-time home buyers.

• Rapidly rising home prices is a province-wide problem. Smaller, more rural communities are seeing rapid increases in housing prices unlike any other time in history.
  
• High prices are driving young families right out of the province to find a home they can afford.

• We need bold solutions to give Ontario’s home buyers a shot at owning a home, and to keep young people in our province.

• Ontario REALTORS® are calling on all political parties and candidates running in the 2022 Ontario election to prioritize housing policies that will ensure future generations have a shot at owning a home.