Here’s where each of the parties stand on how to fix Canada’s Housing Crisis:
- Introduce a new rent-to-own program to help make it easier for renters to get on the path towards home ownership.
- Introduce a tax-free First Home Savings Account for Canadians under 40 to save up to $40,000 towards their first home, and to withdraw it tax-free.
- Double the First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, from $5,000 to $10,000.
- Include an option for a deferred mortgage loan in the First Time Home Buyers Incentive.
- Ban blind bidding and mandate the right to a home inspection.
- Establish an anti-flipping tax on residential properties, requiring properties to be held for at least 12 months.
- Ban foreign money from purchasing property for the next two years.
- Build and repair more affordable housing by permanently increasing funding to the National Housing Co-investment fund.
- Create a Housing Accelerator Fund of $4 billion available to challenge the country’s largest cities to accelerate their housing plans. Enforce a use-it-or-lose- it policy for core urban land.
- Support Indigenous housing by co-developing with Indigenous partners an Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy, and creating a National Indigenous Housing Centre.
- Convert empty office space into housing by doubling the existing commitment to $600 million.
- Introduce the Multigenerational Home Renovation tax credit
- Stop “renovictions” by deterring unfair rent increases that fall outside of a normal change in rent.
- Implement a plan to build 1 million homes over the course of three years.
- Require municipalities receiving federal funding for public transit to allow more homes to be built near that transit.
- Release at least 15 percent of federal government owned land for housing.
- Encourage Canadians to invest in rental housing by extending the ability to defer capital gains tax when selling a rental property and reinvesting in rental housing.
- Ban foreign investors not living in or moving to Canada from buying homes for a two year period.
- Encourage foreign investment in purpose-built rental housing that is affordable to Canadians.
- Re-implement Housing First approach to address Canada’s addictions crisis.
- Increase the limit on eligibility for mortgage insurance and index it to home price inflation.
- Establish a federal Beneficial Ownership Registry for residential property.
- Build at least 500,000 units of quality, affordable housing in the next ten years.
- Set up a dedicated fast-start fund to encourage the construction of co-ops, social and non-profit housing.
- Waive the federal portion of the GST/HST on the construction of new affordable rental units.
- Re-introduce 30-year terms to CMHC insured mortgages on entry-level homes for first time buyers.
- Place a 20 per cent Foreign Buyer tax on the sale of homes to individuals who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
- Work with Indigenous communities to implement co-developed, fully funded Indigenous National Housing Strategy.
- Provide resources for co-housing/co-ownership models and ease access to financing to make it easier for families/individuals to purchase homes.
- Increase home buyers tax credit to $1500.
- Focus on low-income housing by creating at least 300,000 units over the next 10 years.
- Declare a national housing and homelessness emergency.
- Implement a retroactive residential tenant support benefit.
- Rework the mandate of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation towards supporting development of affordable non-profit housing.
- Create a minister of housing to oversee these ideas.
- Limit foreign investment.