The Construction Association of P.E.I. says the provincial housing minister’s goal for the Island’s vacancy rate to go from less than one per cent to four per cent within two years won’t be achievable without the addition of more skilled tradespeople.

The Island’s apartment vacancy rate dropped to 0.8 per cent in October 2022, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Last week, P.E.I. Housing Minister Matthew MacKay said he’s confident that thanks to new initiatives the province is planning, the addition of more housing units will push that rate to four per cent within two years.

The province has offered developers loans with a two-per-cent interest rate, and is working to create hundreds of new apartments using modular buildings that can be put together quickly.

But a major voice in the local construction industry says those programs alone aren’t enough.

“Money is never going to fix this problem,” said Sam Sanderson, general manager of the Construction Association of P.E.I.

“It’s going to be people, people, people. We need more people to build, and we can only build so fast… with the people we have to build with.”

At the centre of P.E.I.’s housing crisis are a population growing faster than planned and a construction industry that can’t keep up with the need for new housing.

The Island’s construction workforce has grown over the last five years, from 5,600 in 2017 to 7,200 in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

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