Federal housing catalogue unlikely to benefit established Sudbury builders: association

Federal housing catalogue unlikely to benefit established Sudbury builders: association

Housing Design Catalogue features pre-approved housing designs any homebuilder can use for free

The City of Greater Sudbury’s adoption of the new federal Housing Design Catalogue could help smaller homebuilders and homeowners, but larger, more established homebuilders as unlikely to benefit as much, says the Northern Ontario Home Builders’ Association.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) developed the catalogue, which features a series of pre-approved housing designs any homebuilder can use for free. Nearly 30 municipalities across Canada now accept the designs.

On Aug. 10, the City of Greater Sudbury became one of the latest communities to join the program.

Melissa Riou, the city’s director of planning services, said Greater Sudbury now accepts two accessory dwelling unit designs, commonly known as granny suites, and two fourplex designs from the catalogue.

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"It can speed up the approvals," Riou said.

"So for the applicant or the homeowner, it speeds up time in terms of the design process. They can use the plans or modify the plans."

Riou said applicants who choose to go with one of the designs will still need to hire a professional to make final modifications specific to their property, including grading and foundation drawings.

She added it typically takes the city 15 days to review a fourplex submission and around 10 days to review a submission for an accessory dwelling unit.

Morgan Rouleau, CEO of the Northern Ontario Home Builders’ Association, told CBC News by email that more established homebuilders already have their own proven designs.

"This is actually a prime example of why we're hoping municipalities will one day allow their own builders to maintain a repeat plan registry, saving and reusing their own proven plans in the same way the CMHC catalogue allows, rather than resubmitting a full review each time," Rouleau said.

Rouleau added that the Housing Design Catalogue will be helpful for smaller companies that don’t necessarily have those catalogues of proven designs.

It could also prove a popular option for homeowners who want to add one of the two available accessory dwelling unit designs to their property.

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"Sudbury has a lot of existing lots that suit a secondary suite, and gentle density options like this have been part of the conversation around adding housing supply without large scale new subdivisions," Rouleau wrote.

"Fourplex demand is more site specific and depends heavily on land costs and zoning fit in a given neighbourhood, so it's less a question of overall demand and more a question of where the numbers work.”

Rouleau said her members would like to see fixes in how deficiencies are handled in housing applications to the city.

"Right now a single, often minuscule deficiency can restart the full review queue instead of being addressed and continued, along with more consistency in documentation requirements, and better visibility into where an application actually stands in the process," she wrote.

She said the association will also keep a close eye on the city’s new implementation of artificial intelligence to help review building permit applications for small errors.

“A faster, more consistent review process would speed up development broadly,” Rouleau said.

Jonathan Migneault is a CBC reporter/editor based in Sudbury. He is always looking for good stories about northeastern Ontario. Send story ideas to jonathan.migneault@cbc.ca.