The Art of Housing Policy: Are Templates Enough?
Ask any preschooler what they’ve been up to all day, and there’s a good chance they’ll present you with an art project—a crayon masterpiece or a pasta collage. Not only are these creations cherished keepsakes, but they also convey a message from their educators: "Look! Your child has been busy learning and creating." Interestingly, this same sort of strategy seems to find its way into the hands of Canada’s housing policymakers. To demonstrate their engagement in addressing the country’s ongoing crisis regarding affordable-yet-livable housing, they’ve rolled out an array of new design templates, reminiscent of those colorful school projects.
The Latest Moves in Toronto Politics
In Toronto, recent political maneuvering offers a prime example of this phenomenon. The city council diluted a proposal aiming to allow sixplex constructions on single lots throughout the city—a step that might lead to Ottawa retracting a significant $30 million in funding. When questioned about why she didn’t challenge resistant councillors, Mayor Olivia Chow instead highlighted the city’s newly published design templates for garden and laneway homes. While showcasing these templates may seem like progress, it raises the question: Are they effective in solving the fundamental issues surrounding housing?
Templates, Not Solutions
Echoing this sentiment, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recently introduced a catalogue comprising 50 low-density housing templates, designed for anything from "granny suites" to small multiplexes. At first glance, this seems promising; however, the CMHC has yet to release the technical blueprints that architects and developers would actually need. In other regions, such as British Columbia, provincial and municipal governments have launched similar initiatives, offering templates in the hopes of streamlining the housing process.
The idea behind these templates harkens back to the Sears catalogue homes of the early 20th century. During Canada’s postwar housing crunch, standardized designs for single-family homes were a well-intentioned effort to alleviate a critical shortage. More recently, both the Trudeau and Carney administrations pushed to ensure that these templates align with building codes and zoning regulations, positing that this would simplify approvals and consequently make low-rise housing construction faster and more affordable.
The Real Hurdles: Approvals and Costs
However, the simplistic notion that design templates alone would ease the housing crisis overlooks the true obstacles in the homebuilding landscape. Developers must navigate two formal sets of requirements: the building approval process and the development, or planning, approval process. While the former ensures compliance with safety standards, the latter is far more challenging. It governs what can legitimately be constructed on a given parcel of land and presents far greater hurdles.
In practice, merely having a catalogue of design templates does little to simplify or expedite the most cumbersome parts of the permitting process. Furthermore, the templates aren’t likely to lower homebuilding costs in any substantial way. Cutting development charges—now a significant contributor to the final price of homes—would instead address costs more effectively.
The Reality of Customization
Many developers have also pointed out that the proposed catalogue homes often fall short of municipal approval standards. For example, if a property has an irregular shape, a custom design is usually necessary for the home to meet setback regulations. In cases where existing features, like mature trees, may hinder the construction of a template-design home, obtaining the necessary permits can prove difficult. In 2022, a city council decision encouraged applicants to consider modifications to protect aging trees, but any alterations to a template design would result in the loss of pre-approval status.
The Role of Quick Approvals
Templates could prove beneficial when paired with swift and predictable permitting processes. Kelowna, BC, offers a model worth emulating, providing approvals for template-based homes of up to six units within just 10 business days. In contrast, many jurisdictions continue to prop up bureaucratic hurdles that stifle homebuilding. Why are policymakers resistant to tackle these challenges head-on?
Performative Public Policy?
One cynical theory suggests that these template designs represent a type of performative public policy—a politically painless attempt at change that allows policymakers to appear active and engaged while avoiding tougher battles. More than just a collection of drawings, effective housing policy should incorporate a commitment to simplifying permit processes and reducing construction-related taxes. Solutions that promise an increase in housing without tackling core issues are little more than illusions.
Conclusion: Seeking Real Solutions
In the quest to address Canada’s housing crisis, a thoughtful approach is required—one that transcends superficial strategies like design templates. The need for streamlined approvals and reduced development charges should be the focus of legislative efforts. Only then can we look beyond mere drawings and engage in meaningful change that enhances accessibility to affordable housing. Without this shift towards substantive policy reform, the cycle of crisis will merely continue, and the only thing we will end up with is a plethora of colorful templates, much like the art projects of eager preschoolers—visually engaging but ultimately lacking in real substance.
