2 weeks Ago By Jerry Agar
Article content No matter who wins the election, we’re promised a housing boom. Mark Carney and the Liberals will build 500,000 modular homes per year, for a total of two million homes. No to be outdone, Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives promise 2.
3 million homes in five years. How will they do it? Carney says he can facilitate building 400 square foot homes for $70,000 apiece. Recently a prefab home was put up in three days in Toronto, but that was after the required infrastructure was put in place.
Speaking with the Winnipeg Sun , Ellery Broder, who has been in the property development and modular housing business for over 40 years, doubted Carney. He said, “Our company has built modular homes for decades. We were one of the first to really scale it.
Even back then, we couldn’t build a 400-square-foot unit for $70,000, and that was before the rise in material and labour costs. Today, you’re looking at closer to $130,000 — at least.” He pointed out that the $70,000 estimate doesn’t include essential infrastructure such as water, sewer, hydro, and roads, nor does it cover site preparation, landscaping, delivery, or placement.
” The National Post writes, “Until he quit just four months ago to run for the Liberal leadership, Carney was chair of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest investment firms. In 2021, the firm spent $5 billion to acquire Modulaire Group, a major manufacturer of modular buildings.” Carney’s plans and his business interests seem to intersect.
As for the Conservatives, Poilievre said, “I have a plan to build the homes Canadians need and restore the Canadian promise. We will get gatekeepers out of the way, cut taxes on homebuilding, and sell off land to build 2.3 million homes over the next five years.
” I spoke with Frank Cohn, a home renovator and contractor, and host of the Home Improvement Show on NEWSTALK1010 Saturday mornings. He says that Canada does not have the worker base to build homes at that rate. Cohn said, “Where is the land to do it and the labour to do it, because we’ve got an aging labour force and we are suffering for a lack of trades.
” He also listed a problem of labour strikes and tariffs in terms of supply as issues. CMHC reports, “Nationally, actual 2024 housing starts were up 2% in centres of 10,000 population and over, with 227,697 units recorded.” It might be more reasonable, as opposed to Carney’s half million little boxes, to build condo buildings and call each of the 400 units, 400 homes.
In urban areas, where the price of housing is so expensive, land is at a premium. Reports also tell us that contractors and developers are drawing back on building condos. Poilievre’s plan would, “Require cities to permit high-density housing around federally funded transit stations as a condition of receiving federal funding.
” Carney plans to build more bureaucracy through a new federal agency called Build Canada Homes, which he says would function as a public developer, acquiring land, managing housing projects, and issuing bulk orders for modular homes. I asked Cohn if any government had a good track record as a project manager and builder. His response was an explosive burst of laughter.
It is doubtful either party can deliver on their promise..
