Laryssa Waler
Policies matter. But right now, paperwork has replaced results — and it’s failing. Green-light good projects now. Every month a permit sits on a desk is another month a family goes without a home.Policies matter. But right now, paperwork has replaced results — and it’s failing. Green-light good projects now. Every month a permit sits on a desk is another month a family goes without a home.
Next week, Ontario’s mayors, wardens, reeves, and other municipal and regional leaders head to Ottawa for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, their annual, rapid-fire round of meetings with provincial officials that helps set the coming year’s agenda. The province and municipalities talk all the time, but AMO compresses it into a speed-dating level of intensity. Housing will almost certainly top the list. And on housing, municipalities across Canada often point fingers — at their provincial government, at Ottawa, and, more than anyone else, at the “big bad” developers.
We chant “Build more homes!”— then the local planning department replies, “Come back in six months with another shadow study.” That contradiction sits at the core of Canada’s housing crisis. We want family-sized homes in safe neighbourhoods with parks and schools — and then our municipal processes turn building them into an Olympic sport of delays, fees, and veto points. The result is predictable: scarcity, sticker shock, and a politics of performative outrage that houses no one.
Here’s the blunt truth: developers aren’t the villains; they’re the only ones who turn drawings into homes. They assemble land, finance risk, manage trades, and deliver keys. But they can only succeed when municipalities provide two things that they control: serviceable land (pipes) and predictable approvals (permits). Too many cities fumble both.
How does that failure show up? Paperwork games turn quick meetings into months of do-overs. Routine approvals get dragged into late-night politics. Deadlines slip. Projects get hauled into appeals. Costs climb. Zoning still blocks homes where they make the most sense—near transit and jobs. Fees pile up like Jenga blocks and end up in the sale price. Cities delay building water and sewer capacity, then say there’s “no capacity” and hold up permits. Parking rules and picky design demands add cost and time.
It’s easy for critics to chant “no” forever. But they don’t have to deal with soil, cranes, concrete curing, inspections, trade shortages, interest rates, or supply chains. Builders do. Land with pipes, fast permits, and clear rules aren’t “giveaways” for developers — they’re the minimum conditions that make homes physically possible and financially sensible.
Where to build isn’t a moral question; it’s engineering and logistics. Zone in advance around transit, employment areas and along serviced streets. That’s where height and family-sized units belong. And be honest about growth at the edge: many regions set aside land for the next wave of neighbourhoods. If land sits beside a growing community and the builder pays to hook up pipes—with schools planned and the environment protected—let shovels hit the ground.
And yes, in Ontario the Greenbelt debate sucked up all the oxygen, often on a flawed premise: the Greenbelt isn’t a single, pristine ecosystem and its borders weren’t drawn up by an Ontario Liberal government solely because of its environmental value. Much of it is working farmland, aggregate sites, and protected areas that should stay protected. But, there are also vast swathes of land that abut existing communities that could accommodate carefully planned, fully serviced growth. The province learned its lesson about a clean process, and the Premier has said he won’t reopen it. But the municipal lesson is simple: stop using the Greenbelt as an excuse to avoid fixing pipes and pre-zoning where growth actually belongs.
We also need honesty about scale. It isn’t anti-immigrant to say intake must match what we can support. You can’t add a city’s worth of people without a city’s worth of homes, clinics, classrooms, and water capacity. Ottawa should match immigration levels to new homes, ready-to-build land, and health and education seats. Do that and you set newcomers and builders up to succeed; ignore it and you set both up to fail.
Time is money — and this money becomes the price of a home. In many cities, approvals drag past a year and layered fees become buyers’ mortgages or rents. Uncertainty premiums, taxes, and interest don’t vanish; they’re baked into prices. The fix isn’t glamorous, but it’s effective: expand water and wastewater capacity, issue permits quickly for compliant plans, and reward municipalities that actually hit their housing targets. That’s the boring, necessary work that clears the runway for builders.
Provinces are starting to reward performance — Ontario’s Building Faster Fund flows funds to cities that show meaningful progress and the province has poured money into water and wastewater top-ups. British Columbia has transit-oriented density rules and low-cost financing, Nova Scotia is focused on fast-track planning areas. Good. Now make the incentives bite locally: tie grants to permits issued, not press releases; claw back dollars from municipalities that miss targets or stall service expansions. De-risk with serviceability and certainty, and builders will deliver.
By all means, set standards and enforce them. But once rules are clear and defensible, stop the theatre and start issuing permits. Judge projects by three practical tests: Are they on — or directly adjacent to — serviced land? Do they add the family-sized homes people can afford and will actually live in? Do they stitch into complete communities with parks, schools, near jobs and transit? If yes, approve them and let the people who know how to build, build.
Policies matter. But right now, paperwork has replaced results — and it’s failing. Green-light good projects now. Every month a permit sits on a desk is another month a family goes without a home.
Laryssa Waler is the founder and CEO of Henley Strategies and former executive director of communications for Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
