A new report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) calls on municipal governments to play a greater role in alleviating Canada’s housing shortage.

Released last month, the Flushing out the nonsense report looked at the types of permits and costs that are required for a $20,000-project to convert a simple powder room into a full bathroom in 12 major cities across Canada.

It found that, out of 12 municipalities examined, Vancouver had the highest permitting costs and, along with Toronto, had the highest document requirements.

Those were also the cities with the highest home prices and greatest shortages. On average, seven additional documents are needed for a bathroom renovation project, with combined permitting costs ranging from $180 in Charlottetown to $2,029 in Vancouver.

“If there are this many obstacles for a simple bathroom renovation, imagine how costly and time-consuming it is to permit a secondary suite, a complete renovation or a new build. Permitting costs and processes should be straightforward and affordable,” said Francesca Basta, CFIB’s research analyst and co-author of the report.

The construction sector seems to agree with the CFIB findings. The report indicates that more than half of small-business owners in the industry find it difficult to obtain or renew permits and/or licenses. A strong majority of businesses (80%) also agree that governments of all levels should make it a high priority to review the necessity of all business permits and licenses.

To cut unnecessary red tape, CFIB recommends municipalities: review their existing permitting and approval processes, establish publicly available service standards for permit processing, and simplify and even automate certain processes.

Moreover, it is calling for provincial and federal governments to do do their part by: tying future funding for housing and infrastructure to requirements for a low administrative burden, ensuring reporting requirements are set provincially where permit processing service standards are provincial too, and championing best practices.

“Canada’s housing shortage has come to the point where buying a home in Canada is getting out of reach for most Canadians. This also makes it more challenging for small employers who struggle to attract employees in many cities across the country, as those employees cannot find affordable housing. Municipalities across Canada can do more to help address it,” said Duncan Robertson, senior policy analyst at CFIB and co-author of the report. “Making municipal permitting processes simpler and less costly is one important step in addressing Canada’s housing challenges.”