According to a new report from the national housing agency, Canada doesn't have the labour capacity to build 3.5 million new homes by the year 2030.
There will only be enough labour to increase the number of starts in four provinces by 30 by the end of the year, according to research unveiled Thursday.
The Financial Post is part of Postmedia Network Inc. There was an issue with signing you up. Try again.
The other large provinces would not be able to fulfill their needs under such a scenario.
According to the report, Ontario, Québec and B.C. will have to double the number of starts.
The country's housing stock is expected to increase by less than 2 million units by the year 2030.
The measure of capacity was based on wage and skill levels. The agency used the share of residential construction workers in the population and the minimum number of workers required for a housing unit under construction to come up with an estimate of labor capacity.
Ontario, the only province that shows more new households than housing starts, has the biggest skill shortage.
The findings agree with what CMHC has been seeing in southwestern Ontario.
The report found that the gaps are too large in Ontario.
Building up in the form of apartments and converting existing structures into residential units were possible ways to close the gap, as were programs to bring in more immigrants with construction-related skills and better pay for such workers, according to the report.
Shcampbell@postmedia is the email address.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
