The president of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association doesn’t believe the provincial government will be able to fulfill one of its major campaign promises on housing.
Curtis Mercer was in St. John’s last week for a housing forum, with builders from across the province in attendance.
His comments come nearly a year after the PCs promised to build 10,000 new homes by the end of their mandate if they won the 2025 election.
Mercer says there are still many challenges ahead for the industry, and building that many homes may not be achievable.
“As we sit today, right now, no, I don’t think it is (possible). I think as an industry we need to change,” he told VOCM News.
“We are facing labour shortages; we’re facing land development issues. The land has to be available and ready to develop in order to do it in five years. Sometimes it’s taking a year or two to get a development off the ground. So, if it’s going to take two or three years to get a development approval, it’s going to be hard to build houses in that time frame.”
