Late Thursday night, Doug Ford was elected for a third term as Premier of Ontario with a majority Progressive Conservative (PC) government. The unsurprising win was projected by polls leading up to the election that put Ford 20% ahead of his closest competitor, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie. Notably, Crombie lost her own riding of Mississauga East-Cooksville to PC candidate Silvia Gualtieri.
Meanwhile, Ford has held his position since June 2018 and has arguably garnered as much support as he has criticism. This goes for everything from costing taxpayers roughly $600 million to get alcohol in convenience stores ahead of schedule to the infamous $8-billion Greenbelt scandal.
On the housing file, critics of his have sung a similar tune. But looking forward, here's what Ford has said his government will do (or continue to do) to combat the housing crisis now that he's been re-elected:
Ford has pledged to get homes built faster by standardizing development study requirements across the province and developing a province-wide tool to accelerate land use planning and Building Code permit approvals. He has also said he will work with "housing-forward" municipalities, like Vaughan and Mississauga, to lower development charges, including leveraging the existing Building Faster Fund, which rewards municipalities for meeting or exceeding housing targets, and he pledges to ensure development charges are invested transparently by municipalities.
It should be noted that Ford implemented substantial development charge reforms in the past, but repealed them in the face of backlash from municipalities. The incentive-driven Building Faster Fund is seen as a more hand's off approach to encouraging development, but in the last two years, the vast majority of participating municipalities have not met their housing targets. In fact, in 2024, only nine out of 50 municipalities met or exceeded targets.
On top of his efforts to encourage development, Ford has pledged to allocate $1 billion in additional funds to the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, which provides funding for core infrastructure projects, such as roads and water systems, plus another $1 billion will go to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, which is meant to provide funding for water infrastructure projects to protect communities and build more housing. Additionally, he has said he will commit $50 million for factory-built housing and other homebuilding technologies.
Ford has also said he will continue to fund skilled trades by funnelling another $1 billion into the Skills Development Fund, alongside an additional $1 billion to expand things like the Better Jobs Ontario Program and growing training capacity for jobs in the skilled trades and other in demand jobs.
In response to Ford's election, a number of development and real estate associations have expressed their support.
"The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) would like to congratulate Premier Doug Ford and Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives (PCs) on winning their third majority government," said President of OREA Rick Kedzior in a press release. "[...] With a refreshed four-year mandate, the Ontario Government has the opportunity to keep their foot on the gas and continue building towards their goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031. OREA’s A Home for Everyone 2025 election platform provides a foundation to get there."
Kedzior also applauded the Premier for his pledge to invest in innovative homebuilding technologies and called for governments to bring down development charges.
The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) also aired congratulations for Ford while calling for increased reform to remove barriers to development, such as removing development charges on housing units that have a minimum of three bedrooms and eliminating or rebating the 8% provincial portion of HST tax on new homes up to a maximum rebate of $80,000.
“Ontario needs conditions that allow builders to build houses that people can afford. But currently we have a dysfunctional system of excessive taxation and outdated regulations that only add to the cost of housing and stymie residential construction of all types,” said RESCON President Richard Lyall in a press release. “At such a crucial time, we need a government that is committed to the housing industry and prepared to take action. It is critical that the government work with builders and developers to tackle these important issues and revitalize the residential construction industry.”
