November’s luncheon served up great company, cold drinks, and hot topics. With over 200 attendees, the Royal Glenora Club hosted BILD’s largest luncheon since the inauguration, just seven months ago.

Kevin Lee, CEO of CHBA National, joined us in Edmonton’s River Valley for a snowy afternoon of networking, celebrating, and discussing key topics in the real estate industry – from housing affordability and labour shortages to the strategies we can use to face these issues moving forward.

Following the presentation was a fireside chat, moderated by the president of Akash Group of Companies, Dhruv Gupta.

“This conversation is of importance to BILD Edmonton Metro because our members play a key role in shaping communities and developing homes and places for people to live and invest in,” Gupta said. “Collectively, with other city building partners in public, private, and community sectors, we are navigating a range of challenges and opportunities before us to ensure that all residents, current and future, benefit from economic prosperity and a high quality-of-life.”

Together, our speakers were able to share valuable insights on how national trends can shape our local context. Lee and Gupta compared the Edmonton Metro Region to other Canadian regions, with respect to development charges, reforming regulations, and innovation of new programs and incentives.

New Builds and Bringing Back “The Dream”

Many have the dream of finding their forever home within their desired neighbourhood and ideal budget, only to be faced with the harsh reality of how to make it happen in real life.

“The dream of home ownership isn’t sliding away; the ability is sliding away.”

– Kevin Lee, CEO, CHBA National

Lee shared that affordable housing, or social housing, and housing affordability, or market-rate, are not the same things. And, the latter is very much impacted by interest rates and municipal taxes.

“The dream of home ownership isn’t sliding away; the ability is sliding away,” Lee said.

When it comes to bringing back the dream, “there’s no silver bullet,” he shared. “There are a lot of things that need to be changed and policy that needs to be reversed.”

A few of the strategies Lee included were 30-year amortizations on mortgages to first-time homeowners on new builds, as well as GST/HST rebates for purpose-built rentals, an initiative that should jumpstart the process for many Canadians to access housing with lower monthly payments.

Facing the Issues

This past summer, the province of Alberta experienced a 32 per cent increase in housing starts from large amounts of migrants moving into Edmonton. “In terms of housing starts,” Lee said, “it’s better in Alberta than other provinces like Ontario and BC.” Yet, with the need for more affordable homes, the industry is working hard to keep up with the rising demand.

Along with labour shortages, some key issues Lee shared in his discussion were also about increasing costs and the local housing emergency. “How do we provide infrastructure in a smart way that isn’t on the back of a home buyer?” Lee questioned. Well, some would say it’s by facing the issues head on.

When it comes to new ideas, changes to the GST haven’t happened yet, “so that’s something we’ve been talking about that’s still to come,” Lee shared, “but the idea that the federal government is tying its infrastructure and transit investments to housing is something that we have been after for a long time, as well. So, all these things are finally starting to come to fruition.”

Trying New and Different Things

When it comes to city development, Lee shared that while much has been done, there’s still more to do. CHBA’s role in researching and tackling government issues on a national advocacy level doesn’t end there. In fact, that’s just where it begins.

In the coming months, Lee said that CHBA National will be launching its National Benchmarking Study, to provide a diagnostic of where major markets are when it comes to policy, processes and approval timelines, and development charges. He shared that the national association will be ensuring that the housing sector’s voice and issues are top-of-mind; with a federal election looming, now’s the time.

Written by Payton Phillips, Content Strategist at BILD Edmonton Metro