Canada’s largest provinces score worst on housing policies and outcomes, report says

A roofer is seen working on a new housing development in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., southwest of Montreal on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi (Christinne Muschi)

A new report says Canada’s three largest provinces are lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to policies and outcomes aimed at tackling the housing crisis.

The assessment by the University of Ottawa’s Missing Middle Initiative graded each of the provinces across 36 indicators related to housing.

New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island each scored an overall A- grade, while Ontario finished last with a D, behind B.C.’s score of C- and Quebec’s C+.

Missing Middle Initiative founding director Mike Moffatt said the study showed provinces in Atlantic Canada tend to “get the basics right.”

“A lot of it is just not getting in your own way,” said Moffatt in an interview, noting that development charges and land transfer taxes tend to be low in those provinces, while approval speeds are high.

“One of the big take-aways for me is that it’s not just about provinces doing the right things, but it’s also them avoiding doing the wrong things.”

The report said New Brunswick is effective at avoiding harmful policies and maintaining low construction charges.

Ontario, meanwhile, fell on the other end of the spectrum due to having the slowest municipal approvals in Canada -- with Toronto averaging about 25 months -- as well as among the highest development charges for both low-rise and highrise projects. The province also demonstrated poor affordability and weak societal outcomes, including higher rates of young adults unable to form independent households.

The indicators used in the report were broken down into five categories, including whether governments have implemented pro-supply policies such as fast approvals and how well they are avoiding harmful policies such as high development charges.

The study also measured policy outcomes, such as whether housing supply is both sufficient for the current population and on the rise, and if homes and rents are affordable relative to incomes. It asked whether the provinces are attracting newcomers or pricing them out, as well as whether young people tend to move out of their parents’ homes.

Although Ontario, Quebec and B.C. showed divergence in their grades across the various indicators, Moffatt said it’s not surprising they had the three worst overall scores.

“I don’t think it’s entirely a coincidence that the larger provinces have more challenges just because they grow faster, they have larger cities and so on,” he said.

“It shows that the larger you are, I think the more aggressive you need to be on housing policy to achieve the same outcome as say a P.E.I. or a New Brunswick.”

Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia were all graded in the B+ to B- range.

The report highlighted that no province excels across all five categories.

For instance, B.C. leads the country on pro-supply policies, but was the only Canadian province with a failing grade on affordability outcomes. Along with Ontario, it also received an F on avoiding harmful or irrelevant policies.

Alberta finished first in positive supply outcomes, reflecting strong homebuilding relative to population, while Newfoundland and Labrador scored the best ranking for affordability and positive societal outcomes, including stronger household formation trends.

Moffatt said that while much attention has been focused on what the federal government should do to accelerate housing supply, most policy levers rest with the provinces and municipalities -- highlighting the need for further action on their part.

The report concluded that provinces are not contributing equally to solving the housing crisis, “and in many cases, harmful or irrelevant policies are exacerbating the crisis.” Development charges are among the top culprits, said Moffatt.

“I think it’s one of the biggest contributors to the crisis. Those development charges end up making it more difficult and expensive to buy homes or to build homes,” he said.

“Ontario and B.C. have kind of found a very expensive model to build infrastructure that places a lot of the costs on new homebuyers, which makes building new homes that much more difficult.”

Data released earlier this month by Canada’s housing agency showed development charges account for a significant part of the cost of a new housing unit in some cities, with those costs varying greatly across the country.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report said those charges are adding a “significant financial burden” on development in some regions

It said for a single-detached home within the Greater Toronto Area, development charges vary from around $125,000 in Pickering to about $180,600 in City of Toronto. That would represent 9.4 per cent and 8.5 per cent of the average single-detached home absorbed price in 2024 for those markets, respectively, which CMHC called “a significant amount for potential homebuyers.”

“Eventually, much of these costs are at least partially passed on to homebuyers and renters,” CMHC chief economist Mathieu Laberge said.

“Given their magnitude, they can be a significant constraint to housing affordability. Their variability across markets may also mean they influence Canadians’ decisions about housing.”

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press