'It's certainly ambitious:' Ontario's housing targets for Waterloo region raising concern

Ontario's sweeping housing legislation announced Tuesday is raising some eyebrows around Waterloo region. 

If Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, were to pass it could put Waterloo region's tri-cities on the hook for the creation of 70,000 new homes by 2031. In Kitchener alone – that number would be 35,000.

"It’s certainly ambitious. [But] it is needed," said Kitchener councillor Scott Davey.

While Davey recognized more housing is needed, he questioned the timeline suggested in the legislation.

"Just for some perspective, when people hear about 70,000 homes in this region they might not understand what that really means," Davey said. "That’s actually just about the size of Cambridge-and-a-half, that they want to add in the next nine or 10 years, which is going to be a very significant challenge."

That's especially the case when you pair that with the regional official plan that has a housing target of about two-and-a-half Cambridges, but over the next 30 years.

"We are quite concerned. We’re looking closely at the numbers in terms of the ability to make sure we have the infrastructure to support these homes," Davey said.

Brian Doucet is the Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion. He said the province's approach may not be what's needed to directly address the housing crisis.

"There's some research that suggests we don't need that many new houses to house our population, that it's not necessarily a supply problem but it's a question of 'are we building the right kind of homes in the right places at the right prices for the right segments of the population?' said Doucet, who also teaches at the University of Waterloo School of Planning.

He suggested using the space we already have more strategically as a way to cut down on the need to build out, as opposed to up.

"We need to think creatively about the land we already have that's developed. So things like parking lots, publicly-owned land that can be used to build denser developments within existing communities. That's a lot cheaper to build in the long run," Doucet said.

With none of the province's proposed changes set in stone, Doucet said it leaves some space to question – maybe it's not how much we build, but who are we building for?