Ottawa lagging behind 2024 housing starts goal

More than halfway through 2024, Ottawa is falling significantly short of its housing starts goal.

As of June, Ottawa has only built 1,593 homes out of its target goal of 12,583 homes, according to the most recent data available from the Ontario government.

"It's clear that every bigger municipality across the province is struggling right now," said Jason Burggraaf, the executive director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association.

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He says higher interest rates are playing a role.

"There's not a lot of consumer confidence right now to make big purchases. And we see that reflected in the standing inventory, both houses and lots that are available. They're ready to purchase right now, but people are standing on the sidelines about it."

He expects the housing starts number will increase as more builds with multiple units are completed.

From January to June, housing starts across Ontario were down 14 per cent, while Canada overall was up seven per cent, according to numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who sits on the planning and housing committee, says affordable housing needs to be the focus.

"We're working as fast as we can," she said. "If we do not have affordable housing, there are going to be people that are homeless. They really will be and that's happening right now, so we have to look at that big picture and not just think in terms of overall numbers of housing starts. If they're unaffordable then we have a real problem."