Canadians across the country will vote on September 20!
Will you make affordable housing a priority on the ballot box for all parties?
1.7 million Canadian households “live in a home that is either unaffordable, overcrowded and/or needs major repairs, while 35,000 Canadians experience homelessness on any given night.
Of all of the G7 countries, Canada has the lowest number of housing units per 1,000 residents. This has been falling since 2016 owing to the sharp rise in population growth. This supply and demand in-balance is responsible for driving up home prices, making the dream of homeownership even more inaccessible (Scotiabank, 2021).
Besides having the essentials of a decent and safe place to live, homeownership goes Beyond the Build. Decent housing transforms futures, strengthens families, communities, and fosters resiliency and stability that can transcend generations. At Habitat, we are committed to partnering with the government, other affordable housing advocates, and with communities to tackle the housing crisis in Canada now.
We are advancing a series of policy recommendations to help organizations like ours partner with governments to deliver more affordable housing through access to innovative housing solutions.
- Recommendation #1: Enhance and refine investments under the National Housing Strategy to focus on the specific needs of those who need affordable housing, and those who are building it.
- Recommendation #2: Increase affordable housing providers’ access to affordable land.
- Recommendation #3: Invest in affordable housing through strategies that address the gross inequity experienced by Indigenous people and BIPOC communities.
- Recommendation #4: Incent the building of more affordable housing by tying federal funding for municipal governments to actions that support more supply.
- Recommendation #5: Fully leverage federal funding and partnerships to build more affordable homes that families can hold equity in.
- Recommendation #6: Take action to sustain Canada’s charitable sector, which provides critical services to Canadians, generates 8.5% of GDP, and employs 2.4 million people. This should include establishing a “home” for charities and non-profits within the machinery of government and providing matching donations or other incentives that will encourage charitable giving to support critical offerings.
Here’s where each of the parties stand on how to fix Canada’s Housing Crisis:
- The Liberal government’s 2021 federal budget, which doubles down on the government’s National Housing Strategy introduced in 2017.
- The budget included a commitment of $2.5 billion to create 35,000 affordable housing units, $1.5 billion of which is dedicated to the government’s “rapid housing initiative,” which seeks to build new affordable housing units much faster than is typically possible.
- The Liberals also proposed a new tax targeting “underused” housing.
- The Conservatives’ election platform features a plan to build one million homes over three years, the conversion of at least 15 percent of federal government property into housing and the creation of an Indigenous housing strategy.
- A Conservative government would also bar foreign investors who are not living or moving to Canada from buying a home for at least the next two years.
- The party also wants to encourage the offering of seven-to-10-year mortgages and to make tweaks to stress test and insurance requirements to help people qualify more easily for financing.
- The NDP’s housing platform is centred on a proposal to build 500,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.
- The party is also proposing a 20 per cent foreign buyer’s tax on the sale of homes to individuals who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
- To help buyers get into the market, the party is also proposing the creation of 30-year mortgages insured by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
- The Green Party has not released its 2021 election platform yet, but the party has recently advocated for the federal government to redefine affordable housing using an updated formula.
- The Greens have also proposed stronger regulation of foreign investments in real estate, and the creation of a federal “empty home tax” that would apply to foreign and corporate property owners who leave units vacant.
By building strong partnerships with us, a new government can continue to deliver results through the National Housing Strategy, advancing a shared vision that goes beyond the building of a home to delivering substantial social impact and economic benefits to families and communities across Canada.
JOIN US Vote #votehousing
For more information on #election2021 visit our website.