The Quay, 100 Queens Quay East, 3rd Floor
In Person
Toronto’s housing shortage has become a barrier to growth. On December 9, join us as we bring together the leaders who can drive solutions to this crisis. Hear from regional decision-makers, as they join developers, financiers, and innovators to explore how to open new pathways for building more homes, faster.
This half day event will focus on reforms that matter: rethinking development charges, modernizing the building code, and scaling construction technologies such as modular and factory-built housing. It will also highlight financing and ownership models that can expand affordability and strengthen market stability.
Employers are finding it harder to recruit and retain talent when workers cannot secure attainable homes. Rising costs, labour shortages, and outdated regulations are slowing projects and putting the region’s competitiveness on the line.
This is your opportunity to stay ahead of policy change, connect with leaders across sectors, and help shape the housing solutions that will define the Toronto region’s economic future.
What You’ll Gain
- Policy foresight: Hear directly from federal, provincial, and municipal leaders on the regulatory reforms under consideration — and how they will shape development, financing, and approvals.
- Innovation insights: Learn from companies pioneering factory-built, and robotics-enabled housing models that are shortening timelines and reducing costs.
- Business advantage: Explore new financing and ownership approaches — including to rent-to-own — that are reshaping the housing market and consumer expectations.
- Industry influence: Add your voice to a collective business mandate that is shaping TRBOT’s housing and land-use advocacy, ensuring your sector’s needs are represented in future solutions.
- Developers and builders (high-rise, mid-rise, missing middle, rental, modular, and greenfield)
- Real estate companies, REITs, banks, and private equity firms
- Federal, provincial, and municipal decision-makers
- Urban planners, architects, and infrastructure builders
- Unions, trades organizations, and housing innovators
- Academics and thought leaders in urban planning and housing policy
Agenda
7:30 – 8:30 am: Networking and Breakfast
8:30 – 8:40 am: Opening Remarks
- Giles Gherson, President and CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade
8:40 – 8:45 am: Minister Introduction
- Tony Irwin, President & CEO, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario
8:45 – 9:00 am: Opening Keynote
- The Hon. Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of Ontario
9:00 – 9:10 am: Remarks
Mathieu Laberge, Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Housing Insights, CMHC
9:10 – 9:50 am: Panel Discussion: Transforming Infrastructure Financing to Support New Housing
There is broad consensus today that development charges need an overhaul. There is far less clarity on what should replace these charges that pay for the cost of new infrastructure needed to support new housing including water and sewer infrastructure, roads, transit and community centres. Beyond reforming and standardizing what municipalities can collect in the form of development charges, what are alternate funding models that can be explored to pay for these costs?
Erin Mahoney, Chief Administrative Officer, York Region
David Wilkes, President & CEO, BILD
Nick Gefucia, Senior Vice President, EllisDon Community Builders
Charles Todd, Managing Director, Investments, Canada Infrastructure Bank (commercial)
9:55 – 10:10 am: Networking Break
10:10 - 11:00 am: Panel Discussion: Rebuilding the Building Code
An overly prescriptive and outdated building code needs to be overhauled and modernized by rethinking what more flexible performance-based standards that are still safe – but drive innovation and help cut red tape – looks like.
Stephen Smith, Executive Director, Center for Building (Appearing Virtually)
- Robyn Brown, Practice Group Manager, Placemaking, Arcadis
11:00 - 11:10 am: Lightning Talk
- Wellington Holbrook, President and CEO, Vancity
11:10 – 11:55 am: Case Studies: New Ways to Finance and Build More Homes at Scale Urgently
More companies are exploring building missing middle and mid-rise housing and the form of intensification in already built-up areas. Who are they? What are the regulatory and financing innovations needed to scale; a pulse check on the federal governments which has pledged $26 billion in loans and $1 billion in equity financing for factory-built housing.
- George Carras, CEO, R-LABS
- Wellington Holbrook, President and CEO, Vancity
11:55 am – 12:55 pm: Lunch
12:55 – 1:15 pm: Special Remarks
1:15 – 1:30 pm: Closing Keynote
1:30 – 1:40 pm: Closing Remarks
- Giles Gherson
Speakers
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Wellington Holbrook
President & CEO, Vancity
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Brad Carr
CEO, Mattamy Homes Canada
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George Carras
Founder & CEO, R-LABS Canada Inc.
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Tony Irwin
President & CEO, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO)
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Erin Mahoney
Chief Administrative Officer, York Region
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David Wilkes
President & CEO, BILD
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Mathieu Laberge
Chief Economist & SVP, Housing Insights, Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC)
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The Honourable Rob Flack
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Government of Ontario
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Nick Gefucia
Senior Vice President, EllisDon Community Builders
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Charles Todd
Managing Director, Investments, Canada Infrastructure Bank
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Stephen Smith
Executive Director, Center for Building
Tickets & Registration
Members
- Single Ticket: $199
- Table of 10: $1,990
Non-Members
- Single Ticket: $299
- Table of 10: $2,990