Housing approvals and permitting system must be modernized

By Richard Lyall

for Daily Commercial News

Sept. 16, 2026

To fix our housing crisis, we must face up to an uncomfortable reality. Ontario remains stuck in the dark ages when it comes to development approvals.

In an era of artificial intelligence, digital banking and real-time data sharing, far too many municipalities still rely on fragmented, paper-heavy approval systems that would be more at home in the last century than in a modern economy.

Applications move from department to department, agency to agency and desk to desk. Builders are routinely required to navigate different processes, standards and requirements in every municipality. The result is a maze of bureaucracy that adds years to projects and drives up costs.

Governments at all levels have spent billions of dollars on housing programs and various modernization initiatives. Yet approval timelines remain stubbornly slow.

The problem is structural.

Ontario's approvals ecosystem is fragmented. Across 444 municipalities, there are hundreds of different permitting environments, each operating under its own procedures, technology systems and approval requirements. Even when municipalities invest in digital tools, those systems often exist in isolation from one another.

For builders, the consequences are enormous.

Lengthy and unpredictable approval timelines have become one of the largest cost drivers in new housing projects. In many parts of the Greater Toronto Area, approvals can stretch well beyond 18 months before a shovel ever hits the ground. During that time, developers continue paying interest on land, financing costs accumulate, consultants remain engaged, and project economics become increasingly uncertain.

The irony is that Ontario should be striving to become one of the fastest and most efficient jurisdictions in the developed world for housing approvals. Instead, too often we remain among the slowest.

For more than a decade, RESCON has been raising concerns about cumbersome planning systems, excessive regulatory complexity and costly delays. We have consistently argued that faster, more predictable approvals are essential to increasing housing supply, improving affordability and enhancing the competitiveness of Ontario's residential construction sector.

To tackle the problem, we have joined forces with AECO Innovation Lab and One Ontario as part of a growing coalition dedicated to creating a province-wide, AI-enabled platform that modernizes development approvals and permitting processes.

The vision is both ambitious and practical.

Rather than forcing applicants to navigate multiple systems and agencies, the coalition envisions a single digital platform that would manage approvals from beginning to end. Artificial intelligence would help identify requirements, prepare applications, verify compliance and track progress in real time. Municipalities, applicants and review agencies would work from the same standardized information and shared datasets.

Instead of chasing paperwork and wondering where an application currently sits, builders would have visibility into the entire process through a single dashboard.

Such a modernized platform would reduce duplication, eliminate repetitive administrative tasks, improve transparency and create consistency across municipalities. Standardized zoning, planning and property data would allow approvals to move more predictably through the system.

Artificial intelligence could help identify missing information, flag errors before submission and streamline routine reviews.

Governments have a critical role to play in improving the system.

Through its spending power, the federal government can support the implementation of advanced planning technologies, Building Information Modelling (BIM), standardized designs, digital permitting systems and expanded as-of-right building approvals. These tools already exist. The challenge is scaling them across jurisdictions and ensuring widespread adoption.

Ontario can contribute by establishing a fully digital, standardized approvals framework across all municipalities. Approval timelines should be measured against clear benchmarks, with a target of less than one year from application to decision. The government should back those targets with automatic fee rebates when statutory timelines are missed.

The cost of inaction continues to grow. Families are increasingly being priced out of Canada's largest urban centre.

A recent Globe and Mail commentary noted that Toronto is beginning to lose people because of housing affordability. The Toronto metropolitan area grew by 269,000 people between 2023 and 2024. Yet between 2024 and 2025, the region posted a population decline. In the City of Toronto, the number of children under five dropped by 12 per cent between 2011 and 2021.

If Ontario wants to build more homes, it must fundamentally change how approvals are processed. The solutions are increasingly clear. The private sector is ready. The technology is available. We cannot build 21st-century communities using a 20th-century approvals system.

Richard Lyall is president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). He has represented the building industry in Ontario since 1991. Contact him at media@rescon.com.