Toronto Region Board of Trade reposted this
President and CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade, Former Ontario Deputy Minister and Newspaper Editor
I'm looking forward to joining the R-LABS Canada Inc. I+T Council to work alongside industry leaders, innovators, and investors in tackling one of the most urgent issues for our region: housing affordability. The housing shortage crisis directly impacts talent retention for the region’s businesses --and Ontario’s economic competitiveness. Housing policy has been a top priority at the Board for years and we have been strong advocates of solutions like ‘missing middle’ housing, stronger government incentives for building more family sized units, increasing purpose-built rentals, and innovations like modular housing. We know that solving this challenge requires a collaborative approach, engaging all levels of government, policy makers, and the private sector to drive transformative change. Yesterday, I moderated a fascinating panel on the manufacturing of housing, organized by R-LABS. It’s all about building housing faster, better and at lower cost. Following three decades of experience in Sweden, there’s a growing interest in applying manufacturing technologies to home building here in Ontario. We heard from experts including George Carras (R-LABS) and Geoff Cape (Assembly Corp.), that standardized production in a factory setting can lower costs while boosting quality. Dennis Darby P.Eng., ICD.D (Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters) spoke about the capability and breadth of Ontario’s manufacturing base to develop a home-grown manufactured housing supply chain, while Chris Walton (CRIBE: Centre for Research & Innovation in the Bio-Economy) spoke about the versatility of biomass as a core material for much more extensive use in low carbon housing. R-LABS’ focus on innovation in real estate will help unlock the potential for tens of thousands of new homes. For all this to happen, some major gaps in the ecosystem need to be filled, including regulatory modernization (the building code) and ready access to capital. The time for action is now, and I'm proud to be part of a group committed to finding the bold solutions our region urgently needs.