Michael Waters is the chief executive officer of the Minto Group.
Whether it’s supply chain issues or labour shortages, the next challenge is never far away when you’re in the business – as we are at the Minto Group – of developing land and building homes. In recent years, however, the challenges have become more existential as we face economic pressures that affect housing affordability as well as the increasingly urgent problem of climate change.
These are difficult times for the real estate industry, and for Canadians.
The housing affordability crisis is one of the most critical issues we face as a country. Canada’s population growth has outstripped the pace at which new homes are being delivered, causing affordability to erode to unprecedented levels. We also know that building more homes has a significant impact on the environment. Real estate, including housing and commercial properties, is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
In a June 2022 report, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp., suggested that in order to make housing affordable again, Canada needs to build 5.8 million homes between 2022 and 2030, which is 3.5 million more than what is currently forecasted. Yet according to a statement released this year by the Canada Green Building Council, this country has never built more than two million homes in any eight-year period.
Even if we ramped up production to meet this demand, there’s still the question of how we can reconcile the need for rapid development with Canada’s climate goals of reducing carbon emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The overarching answer to this question lies in innovation. To tackle the real estate industry’s most pressing problems, we need to come up with solutions that push beyond conventional thinking and challenge our tried-and-tested beliefs around what we can and should do.
What does this look like in practice? At Minto we approached innovation with a sincere commitment to create change with real impact, as opposed to introducing new ideas just for the sake of doing things differently. To date, our drive to innovate has translated into new solutions that we believe will contribute meaningfully to the problems of housing affordability and climate change.
One way we’re tackling the first problem is through product design. Land costs are one of the biggest drivers of housing prices, and developers like us are often price-takers for materials and labour. So we focus on optimizing product design to get the most value out of each parcel of land. For example, in Ottawa, we reduced the width of single-family home lots from 36 feet to 28 feet while adding an additional floor. This allowed us to achieve the same or greater living space at a reduced cost, effectively lowering the price of these homes by $100,000 to $120,000 while still offering high-quality, comfortable living spaces.
We’ve also explored medium-density housing options such as stacked townhomes, particularly on brownfield sites, which were previously used for industrial or commercial purposes and may be contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. By revitalizing these underused areas, we not only contribute to urban renewal but also create more affordable housing that might not have been feasible otherwise.
Sustainability is always top-of-mind for us as we innovate in the design and development of our new projects. A recent example is our North Oak development in Oakville, just to the west of Toronto, where we installed three geothermal fields that use the stable temperature found deep below ground to heat and cool five residential condominium towers. The result is a more comfortable living environment with a significantly reduced greenhouse gas footprint. This kind of large-scale application of geothermal technology is relatively new, and we’re excited to see the first towers come online next year.
We’re exploring adaptive reuse as a way to repurpose existing structures. While it’s more straightforward to adapt some types of buildings, like hotels, into multifamily residential units, converting office spaces presents a unique set of challenges. The large floor plates, building mechanics and structural layouts typical of office buildings are not always compatible with residential uses.
Minto has also been actively participating in initiatives like Toronto’s Deep Retrofit Challenge, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in older apartment buildings. Our goal is to find scalable solutions that can be applied across our portfolio, ensuring that sustainability becomes the standard, not the exception. Our deep retrofit project and Minto Yorkville will reduce the property’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80 per cent and total energy use by more than 50 per cent.
As we continue to innovate, we recognize that balancing affordability with sustainability initiatives will remain one of our biggest challenges. Sustainable building practices and technologies often come with higher upfront costs, and we must ensure that we deliver projects that are both environmentally responsible and financially accessible. This balancing act requires continuing experimentation, collaboration and partnership with government and industry stakeholders.
Above all, it requires bold and innovative thinking.
Innovation is not a one-time effort. It’s a continuous process that drives us to evolve, learn and push the boundaries of what’s possible. At Minto, we are determined to stay ahead of the curve, ensuring that our business – and the communities we serve – thrive for generations to come.
This column is part of Globe Careers’ Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about the world of work. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab and guidelines for how to contribute to the column here.
