Could the solution to Canada’s housing shortage lie in robots picking up the slack?

Driving the news: Horizon Legacy, a robotics company, has adapted a robotic arm to (literally) lend a hand with building rental units near Kingston, Ontario. The arm, called Val 2.0, is similar to the tech used on car assembly lines and can quickly lay concrete walls.

• Per the Globe and Mail, the contraption works by layering a concrete-like substance and cuts the number of people needed to build exterior walls down from 20 to five.  

Why it matters: While Canada’s overall labour productivity per hour worked has risen 27.5% since 1997, productivity in the construction sector has declined 5.8% over that span. And when looking at the last 40 years, the sector hasn’t generated any productivity growth.  

• A lack of skilled workers has been a major factor, a problem that could get worse with a quarter of Canadian construction workers expected to retire in the next 10 years.

Bottom line: Tech solutions like Val could enhance productivity in the sector, but high material costs, building restrictions, and labour shortages still stand in the way of building the 3.9 million new homes that are estimated to be needed in the next seven years.—LA