It’s beginning to look unlikely that Bradford will hit its housing targets for this year.
As part of the regular council meeting on Nov. 5, William Wong, the town’s chief building official, submitted a report on building permit activity for the third quarter of 2024, which shows the town issued just 86 building permits in the quarter, a decrease of about a 33 per cent from the 128 issued during the same time in 2023.
That’s an even steeper decline than last quarter, and Wong has previously explained that market forces, and especially interest rates, have led to a general slowdown in building, especially on the residential side.
“It doesn’t look very promising this year,” he said.
Still, Wong is optimistic things will improve as another potential interest rate cut from the Bank of Canada next month could help the economy pick up.
“I talked to a couple builders who put things on hold, and I think next spring we’ll probably see better,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by Mayor James Leduc, who noted last year “wasn’t that good” either, but said the town currently has “well over” 500 permits ready to be pulled next year.
To help streamline the process, Wong explained in his report that staff are currently working to develop an online system to allow people to submit building permit applications and drawings as well as make payments remotely.
“A pilot project for a limited number of building permit application types (decks, porches, garages, accessory dwelling units and finished basements) is in development,” he said.
Wong explained it should be ready for a soft launch on Nov. 19, and depending on how things go, he hopes it will be ready for full implementation before the end of the year.
Of the 86 permits issued between July 1 and Sept. 30, one was for care-related occupancy, two were for farm buildings, two were for mercantile occupancy, six were for business and personal care, seven were for assembly occupancy and 68 were for residential occupancy.
That marks a decrease of about 33 per cent over the 101 permits for residential occupancy issued during the same time in 2023.
Only four of this quarter’s residential permits were reported to be for new residential development and even if builders and developers begin work on those projects this year, it’s still only a fraction of the province’s housing target for Bradford, which would require 542 new housing starts in 2024.
Between January and August, the province’s housing supply progress website shows only 140 new starts in Bradford this year, or about 26 per cent of the annual target, based on monthly housing starts and additional dwelling unit (ADU) data provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as well as long-term care bed data from the Ministry of Long-Term Care.
In all of last year, the town had 254 housing starts, or about 53 per cent of that year’s target of 477.
Those targets come as part of the town’s pledge to build 6,500 new homes by 2031, and municipalities that reach 80 per cent of their targets are set to receive additional funding through the province’s $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund, with bonuses for municipalities who exceed the targets.
“The Building Division recognizes that time is essential in the construction process, particularly for large industrial, commercial, multi-residential, and institutional projects,” Wong said in the report.
As a result, conditional permits have been issued over the last few years, including one in the third quarter for LOFT Community Service’s affordable senior residence under development at 31 Frederick St.
Other efforts to improve turnaround time include the review and approval of alternative solutions to help developers meet the building code requirements in tricky situations, plus the building division extended office hours again this summer, and on Wednesdays remained open to 7:30 p.m. from June to Aug. 28.
The report lists the total construction value of projects permitted in the third quarter of this year at more than $6.5 million, resulting in about $103,000 in permit fees compared to the same time last year, which saw the value of projects permitted at almost $62 million, resulting in about $497,000 in permit fees.
