By Mark Buckshon
Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Ottawa has established its Housing Innovation Task Force, bringing together development industry leaders and city officials to tackle housing affordability and supply. Announced in a memo dated April 3, the task force aims to advise city staff on innovative solutions to build more housing, faster and more affordably.
This initiative follows a City Council decision on Jan. 29 to create a body focused on advancing housing projects and reducing development application approval times.
The task force is co-chaired by Brendan McGuinty, Chair of the Ottawa Board of Trade, and Debbie Stewart, the City’s General Manager of the Strategic Initiatives Department.
Its objectives include advising on ways to expedite development approvals, streamline regulations, identify financial and policy incentives for housing (including affordable housing), facilitate the use of public lands for housing supply, and enhance collaboration with federal and provincial governments.
Members selected to represent a broad cross-section of the development industry include:
- Jen Arbuckle, Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA)
- Melissa Côté, Taggart Group
- Neil Malhotra, Claridge Homes
- Murray Chown, Novatech Engineering Consultants
- Cliff Youdale, Ottawa Community Housing Corporation
- Mary Jarvis, Canada Lands Corporation
- Kevin Murphy, Mattamy Homes
- Miguel Tremblay, Fotenn Planning
- Barry Hobin, Hobin Architecture Inc.
The inclusion of Ottawa Community Housing Corporation aims to ensure the city’s goals for affordable housing are represented.
The task force will meet regularly in the coming months, supported by an internal working group of city staff. Recommendations and potential opportunities for early adoption are expected to be presented to a joint meeting of the Planning and Housing Committee and the Finance and Corporate Services Committee later this year.
The formation of this task force is part of a broader council directive aimed at increasing housing stock, which also included directions to develop a public-facing dashboard tracking approval times and housing starts, and to review measures such as accelerating the disposal of city land, streamlining design reviews, fast-tracking non-profit projects, and exploring financial tools and incentives.