tank: conflict looms for block, carney on saskatoon homebuilding fees
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liberal leader mark carney makes a second stop in saskatoon the day before election day at gather local market during his federal election campaign.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
newly minted canadian prime minister mark carney praised saskatoon mayor cynthia block as a “hugely impressive individual” during his first of three visits to the city this year.
carney met with block in february when he was running to become the federal liberal party’s next leader before he led his team to an implausible comeback victory last week.
but the relationship between carney and block, who ran unsuccessfully for a federal saskatoon seat for the liberals in 2015, might not remain that cosy given an apparent collision course on homebuilding fees.
saskatoon city hall’s residential development fees are high, while carney’s liberals — and, for that matter, pierre poilievre’s conservatives — see high fees as an impediment to homebuilding. but the disconnect might not be as dire as it seems.
carney wants to slash municipal fees for multi-unit residential housing by half and then work with provinces to “keep municipalities whole.” in other words, carney plans to cut fees at a level of government where he lacks authority and rely on yet another level to make up the difference.
the latter seems highly unlikely in this province, where the saskatchewan party government keeps downloading responsibilities and costs onto municipalities.
for example, the province now expects cities to provide land for new high schools; saskatoon city hall’s reluctant response to this new burden was to hike the levies on lot sales.
city council’s justification for hiking fees in response to the province’s offloading was that cash-strapped existing property taxpayers should not have to pay that cost. but, really, it’s more politically expedient to increase lot fees than property taxes.
how carney intends to force municipalities to bend to his will remains to be seen. he has yet to use the heavy-handed language of poilievre, who threatened to tie federal funding to removing so-called city hall gatekeepers from impeding homebuilding.
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but do saskatoon’s high fees really obstruct homebuilding?
in a recent study commissioned by the canadian home builders’ association ranking 23 municipalities on homebuilding charges and processes, saskatoon slipped from seventh best two years ago to 11th in 2024.
but — get this — saskatoon has the lowest approval timeline in any of the cities, just two months on average, compared to 31 months in hamilton, the worst. and that period has dropped in saskatoon from four months four years ago.
so what’s dragging bridge city down to make it only 11th overall?
it’s those darn fees everyone is blaming for the housing crunch.
saskatoon’s housing fees and charges for low-rise residential developments rank the highest in the nation outside of five municipalities in the greater toronto area. at $112,200, saskatoon outpaces the same costs in vancouver ($104,300) and are nearly four times the costs in regina ($29,500).
and saskatoon’s fees and charges jumped by $40,600 since the last study, while regina’s have dropped by $4,900.
conversely, saskatoon’s fees for high-rise developments rank among the lowest among the cities studied at $9,300 per unit, up from $6,460 two years ago, but substantially less than toronto at $134,900.
when carney mentions slashing fees for multi-unit developments, he’s probably mainly talking about high-rise developments, which would affect a city like saskatoon far less. but not all multi-unit residences are towers.
so there could be a conflict brewing there, but maybe not. saskatoon also ranked below average in the study with a 58 per cent score on how it handles development applications — surely an unacceptably poor grade during a housing crisis.
saskatoon bureaucrats and politicians would probably link the high fees to the quick approval time, but a poor showing on applications is baffling.
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as for whether saskatoon’s poor scores are deterring home building, recent statistics from the saskatoon and region home builders’ association suggest not.
the 707 housing starts during the first three months of the year ranks as the most ever recorded in the first quarter. the 239 new homes sold in the first quarter represent a 28 per cent jump over last year.
and the average monthly payment for a new single-family home has actually declined 28 per cent to $2,803.12 since the end of 2023. saskatoon still rates among the more affordable cities to buy a home.
that makes it a tough time to argue saskatoon’s high fees serve as some sort of bogeyman exacerbating the housing crisis.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
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