Reduce Red Tape, Approve More Home Choices
Canada 3X Slower Than USA Construction Permit Times
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A new 2025 CD Howe Institute Report: "It also takes nearly 250 days to obtain a building permit from the municipalities or the regional authorities in Canada – three times longer than in the US – placing Canada 34th out of 35 OECD countries in building permit timelines."
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"Municipal permit approval is slow for all types of housing; Inconsistency among municipalities in interpreting building codes; Duplicative inspections create inefficiencies & difficulties; Regulatory inefficiencies push firms out of Canada.
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"The average approval time in Canada for new housing projects is about 14 months, with significant variations ranging from 3 to 32 months, depending on the municipality (Altus Group, 2022)."
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A Canadian Municipal Land Use & Regulation Survey confirms "municipalities with long approval times and higher backlogs in approvals (such as Toronto or Vancouver) face generally higher affordability challenges (Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation CMHC, 2023)." Approval delays mean higher costs and more people moving to cities like Edmonton in search of affordable housing.
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It's not just builders who suffocate under red tape. BIV News reports: "Between 2006 and 2021, Canada’s regulatory burden grew by 37 per cent. In B.C., small businesses face compliance costs per employee that are seven times higher than those of large firms, according to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT)."
"In the OECD, only the Slovak Republic takes longer to approve construction projects. That's 168 days slower than the USA." -ICBA BC
The longer the wait for a housing project approval and construction permit, the more they cost to rent or buy.
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Remove red tape thats crippling all construction of any kind, whether it's housing or other infrastructure and resource projects we need for our economy. Copy California. They just froze addition of any new building code regulations for the state and municipalities for SIX YEARS.
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We must build faster and allow more home choices for all budgets like row homes or even float homes. A "Nexus Lane" for pre-approved housing designs, like high-rises and low-rises, would help. And how about allowing some 'fee simple' (non-strata) rowhomes like Toronto and Europe? This is the closest thing to a single family home without a strata council.
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A Woodfibre LNG industrial facility in Howe Sound BC waited THREE YEARS to gain approval from Squamish Council to offer floating housing by repurposing a cruise ship for its hundreds of workers. Project costs rose to US$8.8 billion, up from US$5.1 billion, the company told the Financial Post.
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Little improvement on speeding up housing approval has been made on the current Vancouver's Mayor's promises to implement a 3-3-3-1 timeline: "home renovations approved in three days; single-family homes and townhouses in three weeks; professionally designed multi-family and mid-rise projects within existing zoning in three months; and high-rise or large-scale projects in a year."
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The Vancouver Sun reported: "Average permitting times for home renovations fell from 51 to 22 days between 2022 and 2024 — a reduction of 57 per cent, but still far from ABC’s goal of three days. Median processing time for mid-rise developments fell from 18.9 months in 2023 to 14.7 months last year, a significant reduction but still more than four times ABC’s three-month target.
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Permit times for low-density housing increased from 38 weeks in 2022 to 44 in 2023, due to a surge of applications. Since then, the average has fallen to 25 weeks — still a far cry from ABC’s promised three weeks.”
Home Building Rules Maze
Set municipal housing approval times to weeks, not years. Governments promise to shorten approval times then pile on more red tape, like seismic or green building regulations adding to the thousands of pages for building code rules. Red tape means longer construction permit waits and higher costs to home building. Many homes we need just won't get built. Those growing costs for builders involve lengthy engineering and architectural reports plus annual fees like property taxes, insurance, mortgage interest etc. All these costs are passed on to buyers and renters.
Nearly 2,000 Pages of Rules
The Proof?
A recent UBC study of two BC cities of comparable size Kelowna and Coquitlam clearly shows how one fixed its housing approval process and built more homes.
"When Kelowna rezoned parts of the city to allow more density, officials also streamlined the permitting process — including providing a series of pre-approved designs — that brought approval times down to as little as two to three weeks. The city now has far more multiplex units than Coquitlam, where the permitting process was left unchanged after rezoning.
From 2022 to 2024, 210 multiplex units were built in rezoned parts of Kelowna. Only 16 were built in Coquitlam during the same period, according to the study."
Kelowna Wins
on Deregulation
Duplication Adds Costs
Why do civic governments require additional engineering and architectural reviews of housing projects when they've already been prepared and signed off by these qualified professionals working for home builders?
Duplicate inspections is another "cash machine for municipalities," says Victoria Residential Builders Association CEO.
Yet the Union of BC Municipalities opposes this cost-saving measure.
Would you hire two plumbers at the same time at significant cost to fix your leaky faucet?
Construction Cost Comparison 15 Years Ago
The Hidden Driver of Housing Unaffordability: Building Codes
Condensed and edited Blog repost from Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Intracorp May 6, 2025.
While municipal fees and market trends dominate the conversation, stringent building codes have become a silent driver of the housing crisis. Modern overregulation has created a "cost-of-delivery" breaking point.
Construction Cost Comparison (Hard Costs Only)
To isolate the impact of building codes, these figures exclude land, profit, and government fees
Summary:
Construction and home building costs today!
With construction costs soaring to $562 per square foot (red arrow) from $204 only 15 years ago, homeownership is more unaffordable than ever.
Even before factoring in profit margins, land acquisition, and DCCs (government imposed fees), a buyer would need a gross annual income of at least $140,710 to afford a modest two-bedroom condominium (see Appendix A). Once those additional costs are included, the required income climbs to over $200,000. For perspective, the average gross household income in Canada is $106,300—a stark gap that highlights the growing affordability crisis.
Below is a comparison of the same project and pro forma (budget) using construction pricing from fifteen years ago, with the same exclusions and assumptions as above.
Fifteen years ago, construction costs were only $204.19 per square foot – less than half of what they are today. At that time, the gross annual income required to purchase a two-bedroom condominium (excluding profit, land costs, and DCCs) would have been approximately $83,396. With the average Canadian household earning $79,102, homeownership was far more attainable for the average family than it is today."
Construction and home building costs 15 years ago....
From Safety to "Political Manifestoes"
Building codes were originally intended for basic safety and structural integrity. Today, they have evolved into complex mandates for:
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Energy Targets: High-level Step Codes and air conditioning mandates.
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Social Policy: Up to 100% adaptable unit requirements.
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Advanced Specs: Expensive seismic and technological standards.
The Regulatory Red Flag
The pace of change is outstripping the market's ability to pay:
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Massive Volume: 374 proposed national code changes for 2025 alone, the Canadian HomeBuilders Association (CHBA) reports.
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Zero Accountability: There is currently no requirement for a cost-benefit analysis when updating these standards.
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Compounding Costs: Municipalities often layer their own requirements on top of national codes, further bloating budgets.
The Bottom Line: If the economics don't work, housing doesn't get built. Codes should return to prioritizing life safety rather than serving as a vehicle for political agendas or political manifestosbthat push homeownership out of reach for the average family.
Video: The Long or Short Story Of Housing Woes
Watch our full-length two minute video or our 30-second short to learn more about the regulatory burdens on housing and what this means to home buyers and renters. Share if you care!
