BUILDING OTTAWA’S HOUSING FUTURE

AS HOUSING SUPPLY and affordability continue to be one of the most pressing issues on the minds of Ottawa residents, the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA) and its members are stepping up to ensure that current and future residents have a variety of housing options and a reasonable opportunity to live in the type of home they want within the City.

GOHBA not only advocates for a streamlined and faster development application process and reduced government-imposed costs, it actively collaborates with City staff to address bottlenecks, find solutions and improve the system for everyone.

We work in partnership with City staff on zoning that achieves our housing goals and contributes to the enhancement of neighbourhoods across the City, because, as Mayor Sutcliffe has said, “The best way for us to create more construction is to be more constructive.”

GOHBA’s membership – Ottawa’s leading home builders, developers, renovators, contractors and professionals in the residential construction industry – has grown 25% since 2021 to over 400 companies.

This enthusiasm can best be seen in person - at our inaugural HoWL event (Home Builders of Ottawa Women Leaders), GOHBA saw over 140 women leaders in residential construction gather together to encourage leadership, support one another, learn new skills, and achieve success with guest speaker Cathy Priestman. GOHBA plans to hold HoWL events quarterly, with the next one August 31. Membership in GOHBA is a commitment to supporting affordability, quality and choice. Membership is also a communication to the public, to the City and to colleagues - it signals that members have a role to play in improving Ottawa, contributing positively to the lifestyle of residents, and taking pride in being the voice of excellence in the home building community.

The Association’s growth is a testament to the value of participation, and the opportunity it provides members to engage in the tough conversations on how best to improve housing affordability in balance with other priorities.

GOHBA members volunteer their time to advocate for heathy and balanced municipal housing policies, and they share information and best practices from their own operations and from their colleagues across the province and the country. GOHBA also operates with its counterparts at the provincial and federal level, so when you join the Association, your voice is heard at every level of government.

GOHBA has worked heavily at the provincial stage, and saw the fruits of its labour with Bill 109, Bill 23, Bill 97 and changes to the approved Ottawa Official Plan - in particular restoring heights for minor corridors to 9 storeys for the downtown transect and 6 storeys for the inner and outer urban transects.

Home builders – not the companies, but the actual human beings who work in the sales office or are skilled tradespeople on the construction site – live in every neighbourhood there is across the city. They love living in Westboro, or old Ottawa East, Barrhaven or even farther south. They appreciate the neighbourhood they are in and the lifestyle it provides, and they want as many of their fellow citizens as possible to have the opportunity to live there as well.

In order to help address the significant labour shortage facing the industry, GOHBA established the Trades Development Initiative to connect members with those seeking employment, and to promote careers in construction.

As part of our efforts to promote skilled trades we are forging partnerships with educational institutions like Algonquin College, who are the largest source of training in the Greater Ottawa area. We’re also working with organizations like the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region, who have a strong history of working with the community so that underrepresented groups can have better access to skilled trade careers.

One of the unheralded things GOHBA members do is think about the needs of future homeowners – those who’ll buy a home not only tomorrow, or in the next year or two, but five, ten, twenty years down the road.

We want to ensure that there will be a variety of homes to choose from, that they’ll be affordable, and that they will provide the range of lifestyles that the residents of Ottawa want.

Increasing the speed and affordability to build all types of homes means more choice – not only for those looking for a home of their own now (or will be in the future), but also for those of us who have a home currently but will want the ability to move at some point.

Ottawa needs to provide a range of housing and lifestyle options for residents if it wants to attract and retain talented people, businesses and economic development opportunities.

And, by advocating for more supply, reduced costs and better access to housing, GOHBA also provides a voice for future residents. It’s critical to ensure everyone has the same opportunity for housing affordability and choice – whether you purchased your home in 1983, 2003, or in 2023.

M AN OPTIMIST by nature. It should be no surprise to anyone that I love Ottawa and I’m relentlessly positive about our future. I’m amazed and inspired by how much people love their city, how much they care about our future. Our greatest asset is our people.

It's been a difficult three years - it's been a challenging time for our city in particular, but I don't think our challenges are unique.

I'll tell you what is unique – it’s our opportunity. There is no other city that has the beauty of our city. There is no other city that has the safety and stability of Ottawa and especially there is no other city that has our people, our talent, and our leadership. The great people like you who are committed to a better future for Ottawa.

No other city in Canada has the mix of urban and rural and suburban areas that Ottawa does. And because we’re the national capital, we have representatives from all over the world in our city. And we have so many advantages over other cities.

Ottawa is an innovative city. It’s an entrepreneurial city. It’s an education city with great post-secondary institutions. We are a city of volunteers who step up to help their neighbours respond to flooding and other emergencies.

And there are some very successful businesspeople from throughout North America who want to buy our hockey team and invest in our community. They want to invest in our downtown and see a great future here and see this as a place of extraordinary opportunity.

Economic development is what supports and pays for all of those other priorities. It is never a choice between economic development and other priorities because economic development is what drives all of those other priorities. If we want to fix homelessness once and for all, if we want to build a safer community, if we want to build a stronger city for everyone, we have to drive economic development because that is how we will generate the resources to achieve all of those goals.

Think about how much Ottawa has changed in the past decade. Now think ahead 10 years and imagine the results of what we are planning to build today:

• A state of the art, world class hospital

• A brand new arena in the centre of our city

• An exciting new library on LeBreton Flats

• A revitalized downtown and ByWard Market

• A light rail system running north and south, east, and west

• An even more exciting Lansdowne Park

I believe in Ottawa. I believe in Team Ottawa. And I believe that we are turning the corner. We’ve reopened Wellington Street. We’ve made some important decisions about housing and homelessness. We’re just getting started but we’ve been working very effectively together.

I’m proud to be your mayor. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve my city.

And I believe that the best is yet to come.

Mark Sutcliffe, Mayor of Ottawa