As more residents of Toronto and surrounding areas head further out of the core in search of more affordable lowrise homes, one favourite destination has been west – to Burlington, Hamilton and other locales.

But these areas, too, are now experiencing challenges with the housing market, chiefly supply, and rapid – and sometimes prohibitive – price growth.

Mike Collins-Williams, chief executive officer of the West End Home Builders’ Association (formerly Hamilton Halton Home Builders’ Association), discusses these important issues and possible solutions.

Let’s start with an easy one… How did you come from moving from the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) to the West End Home Builders’ Association (WEHBA)?

I spent the last decade of my career with the OHBA, working on a wide range of urban planning and housing policies. During my time at OHBA I always loved working with members in Hamilton and the Halton Region. I am particularly excited about the future of Hamilton, which has tremendous potential to emerge from the pandemic as a powerhouse mid-sized city. When the opportunity came up to shift gears from provincial issues into this role, I jumped on it.

How do the issues facing builders in the WEHBA differ from what those in Toronto face?

While it does not have the same dense financial core and sky-scraping condos as Toronto, Hamilton is rapidly evolving. With the Hamilton LRT now fully funded, the downtown will soon be a destination for investment in transit-oriented communities. That investment, combined with accelerating population growth, provides a larger customer base for restaurants, bars, retail stores and other local businesses that shape vibrant city centres. I am very bullish on the future of Hamilton.

Toronto city council is proposing an Inclusionary Zoning policy that could add significant costs to the price of new homes. What are municipalities in your area doing about this issue? Some might be watching the Toronto example to base their policies around that…

Housing affordability is a challenge across Ontario. Although many municipalities are monitoring Inclusionary Zoning in Toronto, let’s not forget that Toronto hasn’t always been a great example of implementing effective policies that maintain housing affordability. Inclusionary Zoning has worked in some American cities where a true partnership model has emerged, with governments providing cost offsets to create affordable housing. The problem in Toronto is that partnering to offset costs is not on the table, meaning that any affordable units would be subsidized by increasing the price on all other units, making housing even less affordable overall.

The Smart Prosperity Institute recently released a report that provides a detailed picture of Hamilton’s demographic development over the past 10 years, indicating an exodus of young families out of the region due to lack of affordability and housing options. How serious a problem is this, and what is the answer? In the last few years, a lot of Toronto residents have headed that way, due to the same issues here…

The housing affordability crisis is not confined to one city; it is a regional issue, and it is getting worse. It has created a musical chairs effect where families and young people are leaving Toronto to find more affordable housing in adjacent municipalities, displacing locals who can no longer afford to live in their own community. In Hamilton’s case, there is more demand for housing from people leaving Toronto than actual housing supply. This lack of housing has driven prices so high that Hamilton is now the third least affordable city in North America. Young people and families who call Hamilton home are now forced to leave and look for more affordable options elsewhere. To put it bluntly, we need to build more housing to put a lid on rapid price growth and find a better equilibrium between supply and demand.

The City of Burlington recently acted to remove the Downtown Burlington Urban Growth Centre and relocate it to overlap with the existing Burlington GO Major Transit Station Area. What does this mean in terms of housing development, and what are the potential implications for prospective homebuyers?

The City of Burlington should be planning for more housing options, not less. While GO stations are absolutely where growth should be occurring, both downtown Burlington and the Burlington GO Station should offer residents a wider variety of housing choice. I’m worried that, going forward, there will be fewer and fewer new housing options in downtown Burlington. This could make the waterfront inaccessible to first-time buyers, as smaller boutique buildings will most likely be high-end luxury condos.

What are some of the other challenges the industry is facing in the WEHBA?

The lack of skilled trades continues to be an issue. We need to encourage more young people to consider careers in construction. The skilled trades can be a very rewarding career in terms of reliable work and solid income, and offer the opportunity to contribute to the creation of new communities within our cities and towns.

All of the above challenges aside, where and what are some of the most promising homebuying opportunities in the West End?

Downtown Hamilton already has all the puzzle pieces with great restaurants, shops and night life, as well as beautiful heritage buildings that rival any city in Canada. Downtown Hamilton really is the next big thing in the space of mid-sized cities in North America. We have two leading educational institutions, a burgeoning tech sector, major clean-ups of old brownfield industrial sites on the waterfront and the new $3.4-billion LRT, which is an absolute game changer for the city. The best is definitely yet to come for Hamilton.

AND ON A PERSONAL NOTE...

How have you been managing during the pandemic? Picked up any new hobbies or acquired any new skills?

At the beginning of the pandemic, I thought I would have a lot of extra time on my hands and had hoped to pick up a new language (German in preparation for an OHBA Housing Tour to Vienna), but starting a new job has certainly taken up a lot of my time. I’ve dedicated a lot of time to getting more acquainted with housing and planning issues in Hamilton and Burlington. Still, I have spent more time outdoors, paddling, cycling and backcountry camping, which have been bright spots in this rather challenging year-and-a-half.

What do you look forward to doing most when things fully reopen and we return to “normal”?

I am a huge “metal head,” and can’t wait to get back to enjoying live music!

What’s on your reading list these days?

I just finished reading Reclaiming Hamilton, which provided great insights into urban issues and the history of Hamilton. I just started reading Memoirs by Mikhail Gorbachev, an inside look into the politics of the Soviet Union during his life through perestroika until the collapse of the USSR.