OREA statement on Ontario PC Party Platform Announcement

“Today, young families are finding it harder and harder to find an affordable place to call home. The best way to get millennials out of mom and dad’s basement and into a home of their own is to build more housing that young buyers can afford. If they want to appeal to voters in the next election, all political Parties need to put home affordability and housing supply front and center in their election platforms.

REALTORS® are very pleased to see Patrick Brown and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives focus on affordable home ownership in their 2018 election platform. Their policy ideas on housing show that they have done their homework.

In particular, Realtors are encouraged to see the PC’s commitment to reform the provincial Growth Plan to give municipalities more flexibility to zone for housing that they need in their community. Over the past year, Ontario Realtors have called for an end to the one-size-fits-all planning approach that limits housing choices for consumers. Municipalities should be able to accommodate ‘missing middle’ housing types like townhouses, stacked flats or mid-rise buildings. This will help create more affordable choices for first-time buyers, young families and down-sizers.

Realtors are committed to working with all three political Parties heading into the 2018 Ontario election to bring forward policy solutions that will keep the Canadian dream of home ownership alive in our province for the next generation."

- Tim Hudak, CEO for the Ontario Real Estate Association

Ontario PCs 2018 Election Platform Housing Policy Commitments

• Reduce timelines in the Planning Act to pre-2004 levels
• Sell air rights above GO and provincial transit stations
• Evaluate provincial real estate portfolio to increase housing supply
• Reform the Growth Plan to allow municipalities more control over zoning and mandate regular zoning updates
• Reform Residential Tenancies Act”