CMHC says it’s not to blame for Cambridge missing its housing goal

A federal agency is stating its case after the City of Cambridge directed blame at the Crown corporation in housing calculations.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, deputy city manager Hardy Bromberg said a miscalculation of housing counts by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) toward the city’s 2023 housing target is to blame for inaccurate numbers sent to the province.

According to the province, the city added just 1,043 units, reaching 75 per cent of its housing target. Under the Building Faster Fund, any municipality reaching 80 per cent of its target in a year receives a portion of $1.2 billion put aside over three years as a reward.

Bromberg said the CMHC, which tracks housing starts in Cambridge and provides them to the province, calculated only 75 of 250 additional residential unit (ARU) permits issued last year.

However, in a statement from CMHC, the agency stated it is not involved in the calculation of housing targets by municipalities as it relates to the Building Faster Fund, and its data is accurate.

A building start in CMHC’s definition, the statement explained, is the beginning of construction work on building, which is usually when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure or an equivalent stage where a basement will not be part of the structure. The statement went on to explain CMHC’s starts and completions survey covers selfcontained dwelling units that have a separate entrance, kitchen and bathroom facilities and not institutional housing types.

The surveys are conducted to facilitate housing start analysis throughout the year.

“The data we collect as part of our starts and completions and market absorption surveys helps us obtain a clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply,” a statement from CMHC reads, adding the starts and completions survey is conducted via site visits.

“These visits are used to confirm that new residential units have reached set stages in the construction process. Since most municipalities issue building permits, they are used as an indication of where construction is likely to take place. In areas where there are no permits, reliance is placed either on local sources or other field enumeration procedures.”

The city has been having conversations with the province in an attempt to get the outstanding housing units counted, Bromberg said.

Mayor Jan Liggett said the city is currently playing the waiting game.

“They may not backtrack, even though we have met those numbers. We may not get it for 2023. They tend not to go back and change any of that.”