Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a massive federal program to deal with the housing crisis in Canada.
The Prime Minister made an announcement Friday ahead of next Tuesday’s federal budget. But he has not said how much the new program will cost.
Trudeau said this is going to be the greatest housing program in the country’s history.
“Today we are releasing the most comprehensive and ambitious housing plan ever seen in Canada.”
Trudeau said the plan aims at making housing affordable, people could own homes for no more than 30 per cent of their income, especially young people.
“It’s a plan to build housing including for renters on a scale not seen for generations. We’re talking about 3.9 million homes by 2031.”
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Despite calling for 3.9 million homes, Trudeau’s plan would only see two million homes built while the remaining 1.9 million would come through other programs.
Trudeau’s Housing Minister Sean Fraser gave some very slim details of the plan like tax incentives, low-cost financing and housing on federal lands.
“We’re also going to be launching new measures that help unlock federal lands in a way that we have never pursued before, at a faster speed and with new numbers including with a new strategy that will allow us to maintain ownership of the land and enter into long-term leases,” Fraser said.
The plan, however, comes accompanied by some questions, such as ‘Do people want to buy a home on leased government land?’
“Home ownership is a core component of how many Canadians see themselves. It’s been a big feature of our country,” said MacMaster University Economist Colin Mang.
Mang said the government is right to think about going back to the example of the World War II housing program.
“The wartime housing plan was a very successful program. It focused on a basic set of designs that could be used across the country. And that actually speeds up development because you have these plans that are pre-approved,” said Mang.
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However, the new plan would not build houses overnight.
”Unfortunately we are in a crisis that’s not going to get solved in the next few months but this is certainly going to push us in the right direction,” said Mike Moffatt from the Smart Prosperity Institute.
Ahead of the budget next week the government didn’t say how much this plan is going to cost.
An Angus Reid poll shows 59 per cent of Canadians are already worried the government is spending too much.
And 66 per cent said this year’s projected deficit of $40 billion is too high.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said Prime Minister Trudeau promised a “National Housing Strategy” in 2015.
But in a social media post, he said since then mortgage payments have doubled, rents have doubled, and down payments have also doubled.
Poilievre said, “Justin Trudeau has failed.”
