The need for decent, secure and affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues facing our country.
Indeed, we face a crisis. Millions of Canadians are struggling to find an appropriate place to call home for themselves and their families.
In every province, the dream of home ownership has been crushed for young couples. Renters can’t find affordable housing, and they face reno- and demo-viction. Employers can’t attract the employees they need, small businesses are closing, and families are being separated as folks are forced to leave the communities they grew up in.
Despite their rhetoric, Liberals refuse to treat this as a crisis or provide meaningful relief now.
Housing experts are calling out Justin Trudeau’s inaction on the housing crisis - and his attempts to mislead Canadians.
They’ve confirmed that spending on housing is at an historic low as a share of the federal budget. They’ve revealed that funding for social housing remains stagnant. And they’ve exposed how the Liberals inflate their numbers by treating existing programs as new ones, counting hypothetical money, and presenting provincial spending as their own.
With 1 in 5 households spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing, Canadians can’t afford to wait any longer. We need a government that will take real and immediate action on the housing crisis.
That’s why Don Davies and Canada’s New Democrats will:
- Create 500,000 units of quality, affordable housing in the next ten years, with half of that done within five years.
- Provide immediate relief for families that are struggling to afford rent in otherwise suitable housing.
- Kick-start the construction of co-ops, social and non-profit housing, by setting up dedicated fast-start funds to streamline the application process and help communities get the expertise and assistance they need to get projects off the ground immediately.
- Waive the federal portion of the GST/HST on the construction of new affordable rental units.
While making affordable rental housing more available is critical, the dream of homeownership shouldn’t be out of reach for Canadian families. That’s why Don Davies and Canada’s New Democrats will:
- Re-introduce 30-year terms to CMHC insured mortgages on entry-level homes for first time home buyers.
- Double the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to $1,500.
For Canadians who are open to innovative paths to home ownership, Don Davies and Canada’s New Democrats will:
- Provide resources to facilitate co-housing, such as model co-ownership agreements and connections to local resources, and ease access to financing by offering CMHC backed co-ownership mortgages.
To help put an end to speculation that’s fuelling high housing prices, Don Davies and Canada’s New Democrats will:
- Put in place a Foreign Buyer’s tax on the sale of homes to individuals who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
- Work with the provinces to create a public beneficial ownership registry to increase transparency about who owns properties, and require reporting of suspicious transactions in order to help find and stop money laundering.