P.E.I. building boom heading in wrong direction, says Opposition leader

While the strength of P.E.I.'s construction industry is something to be celebrated, says P.E.I. Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker, he is concerned the boom is taking the province in the wrong direction.

Bevan-Baker was responding to the most recent report from Statistics Canada on building permits issued, released this week.

The report shows even after record-breaking years in construction, 2021 could be even more remarkable. In the first quarter of the year the value of building permits more than doubled compared to the first quarter of 2020.

It is the breakdown of permits for single-family dwellings versus multiple unit dwellings that has Beven-Baker concerned.

Despite the overall increase, the value of permits for multiple unit dwellings fell 37 per cent. Single-family dwelling permits are up 210 per cent.

"The trend is good in terms of construction starts. I'm not sure that it's in the area that we need to be focused on," said Bevan-Baker.

"We particularly need housing capacity that's affordable. So when you look at where these new permits are being issued, the real growth is in single-family units and family dwellings and the numbers that are going down are in multiple-unit dwellings. And that's where you tend to see the affordable housing built."

P.E.I. has a tradition of urban sprawl, said Bevan-Baker, and the tripling of value of single-family unit permits suggests this tradition is continuing. In addition to not correcting a shortage in affordable housing, he said, urban sprawl creates problems for providing services such as sewer, water, transit, and other services as the footprint of urban areas expand.

"That's been the pattern of development here. We haven't really thought about the consequences," said Bevan-Baker.

"We're still absent a province-wide, cohesive, congruent planning policy when it comes to buildings. And we need to fix that."

An updated Planning Act would guide new construction in the direction it needs to go, he said.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, the provincial housing department said with a record number of construction starts in 2020 and a recent rise in the vacancy rate it is not currently concerned about the number of multiple dwelling buildings.

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