By Luca Bucci, CEO, OHBA
OHBA needs to change if it wants to be the authoritative voice for Ontario housing
The model on which the Ontario Home Builders’ Association is constituted, funded and governed needs to change to adapt to our new political environment. The way we conduct advocacy, while improving over the past year, needs a refresh.
We want to be the powerful, authoritative voice for housing and the first choice on housing policy matters for decision-makers and policymakers. Right now, though, we are simply one of many stakeholders in a crowded space.
Under previous governments our approach has been defensive. We measured success by being included in meetings, rather than by influencing outcomes. We focused on what didn’t happen, rather than what could have happened. We accepted policies that constrained land supply, drove up costs and created a narrative that labelled our members as “greedy, rich developers.” And we watched as members were publicly shamed by the very people who created the problem in the first place.
This approach left a void that begged the question: “Who will advocate for our industry?” More important, this void remained at a time when the government was transitioning to one that actually sympathized with our industry’s challenges.
I was hired as CEO of OHBA to reposition the association as a fierce advocate, and to be primary voice of the home building industry in Ontario. Together we have made positive strides since, including: helping the government create and implement Bill 3, Bill 23, Bill 39 and Bill 97; employing a province-wide advocacy campaign that was pulled together in five days; achieving changes in the interest rate treatment for deposits under the Condominium Act; and helping expand urban boundaries in Hamilton, Ottawa, Waterloo and other regions in the face of incredible opposition. We achieved comprehensive changes to development charge regimes, ended site plan requirements for sites of 10 units or less, froze parkland rates on the date that zoning bylaw or site plan application is filed and eliminated frivolous public meetings on subdivision draft plans.
Further, we worked with the government to allow for three residential units “as of right” on most land zoned for residential development without a municipal bylaw amendment. We worked with Tarion to establish the Industry Relations Team. A resource dedicated to provide one-on-one guidance, support and education on Tarion’s builder processes and obligations. We secured major additional funding for our Job Ready Program, which focuses on bringing young people into the skilled trades. And recently, through Bill 97, we landed groundbreaking changes into the provincial policy statement and eliminated the Growth Plan.
We achieved all of this, among other things, by working in a different, more efficient and collaborative way with our locals. But the changes necessary to achieve this progress have been difficult, dividing those clamoring for change with those who are content with the status quo.
So, on the eve of my first anniversary as CEO of OHBA, I am signalling to the membership that the debate on housing supply and affordability is entering its next phase, a phase that may prove to be even more difficult than it has been thus far. We are three years away from the next provincial election. While it is our hope—and highly likely—that the current policy direction continues, there may come a time when that will not be the case.
We have taken only small steps toward creating the association our industry needs and deserves. We must build a modern, professional, effective association, focused on servicing one member with one voice. We need to build an association that can deliver meaningful change, but that can also effectively defend the industry against the changes in political direction—and do so with all levels of government.
We need to be an association that uses members’ and staff resources effectively, removing duplication at the local level. We need an association model that uses the best of our people, knowledge, resources and influence. We need to build an association that celebrates where appropriate but prioritizes delivering tangible results for members.
This is the type of association the current situation demands and that our members want. I look forward to leading this association as we work towards delivering it and building a new OHBA.
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