Optimizing urban density: developer positions on densification in two mid-sized cities

Abstract

Altus Group Economic Consulting was retained by the Canada Home Builders' Association (CHBA) to undertake a study of several factors that may be contributing to housing affordability issues in major housing markets across Canada, such as municipal approval processes, resulting timelines for approvals, and government charges levied by municipalities.Altus Group Economic Consulting  Of the 10 best ranked municipalities in the 2020 Study, eight remained in the Top 10 for the 2022 Study, with Oakville and Markham falling out of the Top 10 and Ottawa and Brampton moving into it. Little Time Savings Evident for Smaller Applications Puts Ability of ZoningReform to Boost Housing Supply At-Risk  Based on our analysis of high-density development applications within Ontario, there are little differences in approval timelines for smaller applications compared to larger applications -the marginal amount of 'staff days per unit approved' is 5-10-times higher for smaller applications (3-50 units) than for larger applications. High-density projects in Ontario with 3-50 units took an average of 506 days to get approved (averaging 25 units), taking 20.2 days in review per unit approved, while projects with 400-500 units took a similar average of 550 days to get approved (averaging 451 units among them), but this equated to 1.2 days in review per unit approved.