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High fees for developers, unclear tariffs, and a tough housing market have left thousands of approved housing projects in Cambridge either unstarted or still without permits.
Since 2023, the Cambridge city council has given the green light to 7,684 housing units, but more than 5,000 of those haven’t been built or even gotten permits yet, says Hardy Bromberg, who manages planning and growth for Cambridge.
Bromberg points out that rising construction costs are mainly why things have slowed down-especially when it comes to mid-rise and high-rise buildings.
“The cost of building homes is much higher than what people are willing or able to afford,” he said. “Until this balance changes I think you won’t see many of these projects built.”
When asked what the city can do about this backlog, Bromberg admits there’s not much they can do right now.
“The biggest thing that we can do is certainly prepare for when that balance of cost of construction and what people are able to pay aligns a bit better,” Bromberg said.
Development fees too high
Stephen Litt, chief development officer at Vive Development, believes lowering development fees would help get construction moving again.
“We need to see the federal government and the provincial government really lean in with their promise of reduced development charges. Whether that’s 50 per cent or 100 per cent,” Litt said.
Litt also mentions an issue with development charge reserve funds. These funds hold money collected from developers meant for infrastructure like roads and sanitation needed for new developments. He thinks projects should get a break from these fees for some time so they can move faster.
“If you get a project in the ground within two years, one should receive some sort of incentive for that,” he said. “That will get a lot of programs across the finish line.”
Tariff worries add trouble
Litt adds that confusion over U. S. tariffs and global trade also causes problems.
“It’s scary when you wake up one morning and there are new tariffs on this raw material or that raw material,” he said.
Still, Litt says Vive Development hasn’t been hit hard by tariffs; their building costs have actually gone down. But uncertainty around U. S. tariffs can mess with the whole construction industry even if they’re not directly affected. He points to how U. S. actions against Canada’s car industry could cause trouble:
“It’s not necessarily increasing costs that’s the challenge, it’s the massive unemployment. If Toyota, Honda and Ford do massive layoffs then those people can’t afford rent,” he said. “When you build a rental building, you’re hoping that two years from now there’s a market that will absorb it.”
For its part, the city has made changes to speed up planning too. Council now lets staff quickly approve certain projects as long as they fit with what council wants overall.
“That speeds up the process by sometimes a couple of months because there is no need for another report to council,” Bromberg said.
Impact on city planning
If all these approved projects keep piling up without being built , Bromberg says they might put deadlines on some approvals.
“Some planning approvals can have deadlines. Certainly that is something that the city of Cambridge could explore in the future. It’s something that we have not done up until now ,” he said.
Bromberg adds unfinished projects make long-term planning trickier.
“If we’re looking at approving housing units in certain areas of our community , they still need water , roads and sidewalks ,” he explained. “It does make it somewhat difficult to do long-term infrastructure planning.”
In 2023 , Cambridge promised to build 19 ,000 units by 2031. Even though there’s a backlog growing , Bromberg believes they’re still on track.
“When you think of the over 7 ,600 units that we have approved since 2023 , that represents about 40 per cent of that 19 ,000. So we’re on pace to match our pledge ,” he said. “The difficulty though is that just under 12 per cent of that 19 ,000 have been built.”
LISTEN | Thousands of approved housing units in Cambridge remain unbuilt:
The Morning Edition – K-W10:30Thousands of approved housing units in Cambridge remain unbuilt
Since 2023 , Cambridge City Council has approved over seven-thousand-six-hundred (7 ,684) housing units but more than five-thousand remain to be built. To break down what’s holding things up , Hardy Bromberg explains as General Manager Planning(sic),(sic), Planning & Growth(sic).
