London, Ont. failing to meet provincial housing goal, city report says

The City of London says it will fall short of its provincial goal of 3,447 housing starts by the end of 2023, with 1,260 housing starts this year.

London, Ont., will not be meeting its housing start goal set out by the province, according to a report from city staff.

The municipal goal is part of the provincial government’s goal of 1.5 million homes built by 2031. To incentivize municipalities to get homes approved and built, the province launched the Building Faster Fund earlier this year.

The fund will provide $400 million in annual funding to municipalities that reach 80 per cent of their annual housing target each year.

London’s target for 2023 was 3,447. So far, the city has had 1,260 housing starts.

The city staff report shows that as of Oct. 17, 3,061 units had been approved by council. It’s anticipated that council will have approved units in excess of the target, but actual units constructed will fall well below the target.

“We need the mechanisms to turn what is permissions into units,” says London Mayor Josh Morgan.

“We have over 18,000 of them already here in the city. Permissions that are substantially completed to the municipal process. We need tools to turn those into actual units.”

Morgan says that the city has been doing what it can to approve units, but it’s on developers to get homes built.