All About Housing (3 Articles): 1) Home Sales, Prices Will Likely Fall In Short Term But Pick Up Next Spring: TD Report; Fraser Says Housing Measures Coming In Budget Update, Weighs In On Short-Term Rentals; 3) City Of Barrie Seeks Input On New Action Items For Updated Affordable Housing Strategy

1) Home Sales, Prices Will Likely Fall In Short Term But Pick Up Next Spring: TD Report

Courtesy of Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Oct 27th, 2023

A report by TD Economics predicts Canadian home sales and average prices will fall over the coming months but pick up by the second quarter next year. 

Economist Rishi Sondhi says the impact of higher interest rates continues to be felt, which will likely push sales and prices lower by 10 and five per cent, respectively, by the end of the first quarter of next year, compared with 2023 third−quarter levels.

The subsequent recovery forecasted is based on an assumption the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate by next spring as unemployment rises and the core inflation rate inches lower toward the central bank’s two per cent target.

2) Fraser Says Housing Measures Coming In Budget Update, Weighs In On Short-Term Rentals

Courtesy of Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Oct 23rd, 2023

By Nojoud Al Mallees in Ottawa

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says the federal government will reveal more housing measures in the fall budget update and in the coming months that aim to ramp up homebuilding across the country. 

In a news conference on Monday, Fraser also weighed in on measures the federal government could pursue to address the strain short-term rentals are putting on housing affordability. 

“You should expect to see additional measures on housing in the fall economic statement. You should expect to see additional measures more broadly in the months ahead as they are ready. I’m not going to wait and hold them for some magic date, where we suddenly release all of the policies at once,” Fraser said.

Some of those expected measures include tying federal infrastructure spending to housing outcomes in local communities. Fraser also said there will be more policies geared toward increasing the stock of social housing, and increasing workers’ skills and innovation in the construction industry. 

“There’ll be a series of other measures that we seek to address around the financialization of housing as well,” Fraser said. 

Last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland applauded the B.C. government for going after short-term rentals and said the federal government was looking at what it can do to help make more of these units available as long-term rentals.

The province has introduced new legislation that will limit short-term rentals to principal residences and one secondary suite or unit, Premier David Eby announced last week. 

Eby said the government will also increase fines for short-term rental operators who break municipal bylaws and will require short-term rental platforms to share data with the province for enforcement and tax purposes.

Fraser said the federal government could use taxation to discourage short-term rentals and attach conditions to federal funding for other levels of government. 

“We could potentially leverage federal programs, include taxation, include the federal spending power to incentivize other kinds of behaviour,” he said, but added that no decisions have been made yet. 

Freeland has not announced the date for this year’s fall economic statement yet but it is expected in the coming weeks. 

The federal government is under pressure to address the housing crisis and has created policies aimed at building more housing, including removing the GST on purpose-built rentals and unlocking more low-cost financing for home construction. 

It has also reached deals with some municipalities in recent weeks as part of the housing accelerator fund, a federal program that awards funding to cities based on their plans to boost their housing stock.

Fraser said the federal government is prioritizing funding to cities with the most ambitious plans and has shared best practices based on applications received. 

These include ending exclusionary zoning, using technology to speed up permit processing and using municipal lands to build more housing. 

“We would encourage other cities who have pending applications to consider implementing some of these changes to strengthen your odds of approval,” he said. 

3) City Of Barrie Seeks Input On New Action Items For Updated Affordable Housing Strategy

Release Courtesy of Barrie360.com, Published: Oct 27th, 2023

News release – City of Barrie

The City of Barrie is asking the public for feedback on new action items for the updated Affordable Housing Strategy. Feedback will be presented and taken into consideration by Council when deciding how to prioritize these action items to create a new Affordable Housing Strategy.

The City began collecting feedback for the Affordable Housing Strategy Update in April 2023, which has helped to create a variety of policy options. From these policy options, 10 action items have been developed.

The public can share their feedback on these action items by participating in the following engagement opportunities:

• Affordable Housing Action Items Survey (open until November 13, 2023)
• Open House:

November 9, 2023: City Hall Rotunda (70 Collier Street); 3:30pm to 6pm (drop in anytime)

The City first released a 10-year Affordable Housing Strategy in 2015, with the goal of constructing 840 affordable housing units by 2025. This target was aligned with the County of Simcoe’s 10-Year Affordable Housing Plan, which allocated the need of 840 units. The goal of 840 newunits was achieved in 2020.

The new Affordable Housing Strategy will be presented to Barrie City Council for approval in December 2023, for implementation beginning in 2024. Visit BuildingBarrie.ca/AffordableHousing to learn more about the policy options, action items and to share your feedback.