RESCON president joins provincial housing supply action plan implementation team

Steve Clark
Steve Clark

Ontario Construction News staff writer

The Ontario government this week announced a housing supply action plan implementation team, including Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON).

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens will chair the committee with a goal of evaluating progress and providing advice on implementing Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plans and tackling the housing supply crisis.

Team members are:

  • Chair Cheryl Fort, Mayor of Hornepayne
  • Marlene Coffey, CEO, Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association
  • Simone Swail, senior manager, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
  • Adam Brown, founding partner, Sherman Brown
  • Jim Harnum, founder, Municipal VU Consulting Inc.
  • Tony Irwin, president and CEO, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario
  • Richard Lyall, president, Residential Construction Council of Ontario
  • Paula Tenuta, senior vice-president, policy and advocacy, Building Industry and Land Development Association

“I’m pleased to appoint seven experts to our Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team,” said Steve Clark, minister of municipal affairs and housing. “Their advice and broad range of experience in municipal planning, the not-for-profit sector and the housing industry will get more homes built faster and help us reach our goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031.”

The government recently introduced a series of measures including More Homes for Everyone, and More Homes Built Faster to deliver both near-term solutions and long-term commitments to build more homes faster to put home ownership within reach for all Ontario families.

“Ontario’s housing crisis has been years in the making and will require bold ideas and vision,” Dilkens said. “The Implementation Team will continue this approach by embracing change and questioning the status quo. Ontario should be a place where everyone that aspires to homeownership is able to obtain it.

“As Chair, I look forward to working with the experts and industry leaders appointed to complete the implementation team’s mandate.”

In 2022, Ontario saw the second highest number of housing starts since 1988, with just over 96,000 new homes. This is 30 per cent higher than the annual average for the past 20 years.

Ontario also broke ground on nearly 15,000 new purpose-built rentals, a 7.5 per cent increase from 2021 and the highest number on record.

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