Ontario Could Fall 550,000 Homes Short of Housing Target, New Report Warns
Ontario is on track to fall more than 550,000 homes short of the province’s 1.5-million-home housing target, according to a new report released Thursday by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
The report, titled A Blueprint for Growth: Towards a New Deal for Housing, calls for significant changes to provincial zoning rules and the Ontario Building Code in an effort to make it easier and faster to build new homes.
The province established its goal of building 1.5 million new homes by 2031. But according to the Board of Trade's analysis, Ontario is projected to be more than 550,000 homes behind the required pace by 2029.
Why It Matters to Toronto Families
For families across the GTA, the issue goes beyond the overall number of homes being built.
Housing costs remain a major concern for people looking to purchase a home, move to a larger property or find suitable rental housing. The Board of Trade argues that increasing the supply of homes is necessary for long-term affordability.
The report notes that Toronto-area home prices rose substantially faster than inflation between 2006 and 2025. At the same time, recent declines in home prices have provided some relief to buyers.
The latest Toronto Regional Real Estate Board data shows that the average GTA home sold for $993,410 in August, down 2.7 per cent from a year earlier. TRREB's benchmark price, which is designed to represent a typical home and accounts for differences in the types of properties being sold, was down 4.5 per cent year-over-year.
The Board of Trade cautions that affordability improvements could prove temporary if housing construction does not continue.
What Changes Are Being Proposed?
One of the central arguments in the new report is that developers currently face hundreds of different zoning rules and approaches across Ontario's municipalities.
The Board of Trade is calling for greater consistency in provincial zoning standards, allowing builders to use more standardized approaches when developing different types of housing.
It also wants broader "as-of-right" development, meaning that certain projects meeting established requirements could proceed without lengthy individual approvals.
The report also calls for changes to the Ontario Building Code, including measures intended to make forms of "missing middle" housing — such as townhouses and multiplexes — easier to build.
What Does This Mean for the GTA?
The proposals would not immediately create hundreds of thousands of new homes, and the report does not predict that housing prices will move in a particular direction as a result.
Instead, the Board of Trade is arguing that Ontario needs to increase the pace of construction over the coming years.
For Toronto-area families, that could have implications for the availability of different types of housing, including larger family homes, townhouses, rental units and other forms of "missing middle" housing.
The issue is particularly relevant across the broader GTA, where communities continue to balance population growth with the availability and cost of housing.
A Long-Term Issue
The report comes as housing construction and affordability remain major issues for Ontario's economy.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade says that without sufficient housing close to employment and transportation, the region could face additional challenges attracting and retaining workers.
For families, however, the most immediate question is much simpler: Will there be enough suitable housing at prices they can afford?
Today's report adds another voice to the ongoing debate over how Ontario should address that question.
The A Blueprint for Growth: Towards a New Deal for Housing report was released by the Toronto Region Board of Trade on October 1.
