Ontario ministers referring to ‘attainable’ housing but docs show word has no definition

More than a year after Premier Doug Ford and his cabinet ministers began promising to build more “attainable housing,” internal documents show the government hasn’t worked out what the term actually means.

Shortly after taking over as housing minister in September, Paul Calandra was tasked with creating an official meaning for a phrase the government had long been using.

According to documents prepared for Calandra, attainable housing is “a new concept that has been introduced in public communications but not yet codified in any program / policy.”

Calandra’s briefing notes added that “a definition and clear explanation is needed” of how attainable housing would fit “within the changing ‘below-market’ policy space.”

The province says work to define the term is now underway but critics argue it has taken far too long.

‘“The province is developing an attainable housing program that will make home ownership a reality for more Ontario families,” a spokesperson for Calandra said.

Those consultations have been scheduled for both January and February, with the province asking stakeholders to help them settle on a definition.

“I just can’t believe the government doesn’t have a definition for attainable housing,” Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner told Global News.

“They’ve been in power for six years, we’ve been in a housing crisis that predates this government even getting elected.”

Moments after being re-elected as premier in 2022, Ford told supporters during his victory speech that he promised to say “yes to more attainable housing,” a relatively new term for a government that had previously been focused on affordable housing.

Whether the premier’s use of “attainable housing” was a slip of the tongue or intentional, the term