Federal government plans to lease public lands for construction through new housing strategy

Housing Minister Sean Fraser has announced what he's calling an ambi‐ tious strategy to tackle Canada's housing crisis.

Fraser said Friday the strategy - Canada's Housing Plan - will build more homes, make renting or buying a home easier and do more to support those who can't af‐ ford a place to live.

This is the Trudeau gov‐ ernment's second national housing strategy. In 2017, it launched a 10-year housing plan aimed at building 100,000 affordable housing units and repairing 300,000 affordable housing units. Fraser said the new mea‐ sures will supplement the 2017 plan.

At a news conference in Vaughan, Ont. on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his governmen‐ t's latest effort is the "most comprehensive and ambi‐ tious housing plan ever seen in Canada."

WATCH | Liberals pledge to build 3.9M homes by 2031:

"It's a plan to build hous‐ ing, including for renters, on a scale not seen in genera‐ tions. We're talking about al‐ most 3.9 million homes by 2031."

Canada would need to build 3.1 million homes by 2030 to close the housing gap, according to a report by the parliamentary budget of‐ ficer published Thursday.

Leasing public lands for affordable housing

Highlights of the new strategy include plans for the federal government to lease and build on underused pub‐ lic lands to make housing more available and afford‐ able.

The strategy also promises a new mapping tool to track the inventory of public lands.

"Where the public interest demands maintaining owner‐ ship of public land, the feder‐ al government will maintain ownership but make land available through long-term leases to ensure that land can be used for housing," Fraser said.

Details of the governmen‐ t's plans for public lands will be unveiled in Budget 2024 on April 16.

The government's latest strategy also includes a new Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program to give home‐ owners access to low-interest loans of up to $40,000 to al‐ low them to add secondary suites to their homes.

WATCH | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks about new housing solu‐ tions:

To prevent speculation and ensure that houses are being used as residences for Canadians, the government will be extending its ban on ownership of residential properties by foreign in‐ vestors until Jan. 1, 2027.

The government intends to increase the capital cost allowance rate for apartmen‐ ts from four to 10 per cent, which will boost the amount builders can write off on their taxes.

It's also extending the GST exemption on rentals to stu‐ dent residences built by pub‐ lic universities, colleges and school authorities. The mea‐ sure will apply to new stu‐ dent residences that started construction on or after Sept. 14, 2023, and before 2031, so long as they are built before 2036.

Much of the plan has been released already

Several initiatives listed in Canada's Housing Plan are projects the government has already announced, such as the elimination of income tax deductions for expenses in‐ curred for short-term rentals that contravene provincial or municipal regulations.

The Canadian Home Builders' Association wel‐ comed the government's plan Friday, particularly its extension of the mortgage amortization limit to 30 years for first-time home buyers.

The association said in a news release that attaching housing conditions to transit funding and seeking to change the National Building Code to speed up construc‐ tion of housing units show the government "recognized that a comprehensive ap‐ proach is needed to address Canada's housing affordabil‐ ity crisis."

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In a statement to CBC News on Friday, Conservative critic Scott Aitchison criticized the government's record on housing and the effective‐ ness of their proposed solu‐ tions.

"While Trudeau's minis‐ ters admit their photo op fund won't build even a single new home, common sense Conservatives will build the homes by punish‐ ing gatekeepers that block home building and rewarding those who get homes built."

On April 4, Trudeau pre‐ viewed some of the housing commitments in Budget 2024, saying $1.5 billion would go toward helping non-profit organizations ac‐ quire rental units and keep them affordable. That fund‐ ing is part of the Co-opera‐ tive Housing Development Program that will start this summer.

Another $15 billion will be allocated for the Apartment Construction Loan Program, bringing available funding to $55 billion. The program is meant to build 30,000 new rental apartments in big cities, towns and rural com‐ munities.

New Democrat critic for housing Alexandre Boulerice expressed frustration with the announcement, saying Trudeau "disappointed Cana‐ dians by delaying measures to keep housing affordable" during his eight years as gov‐ ernment.

"They're facing sky-high grocery prices and rent. They're seeing rich CEOs get richer off their backs while they scrimp and save," Boulerice said in a news re‐ lease Friday. "People can't seem to get ahead."

Combined effort with provinces

The Liberals' housing strategy depends in part on co-operation from provinces and territories, some of which have already pushed back on the federal govern‐ ment over what they argue is jurisdictional overreach.

In addition to setting aside $1 billion over four years for the Reaching Home program - a federal home‐ lessness initiative - the gov‐ ernment will allocate $250 million to help end encamp‐ ments and transition people into housing. It is calling on provinces and territories to match that amount.

Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick were unhappy with Ottawa's decision to make access to new infrastructure money contingent on a set of condi‐ tions, including legalizing fourplexes.

But Fraser pushed back on those criticisms, arguing that Canadians just want the problem solved.

"It was important that we do what we can to embrace the challenge and demon‐ strate to Canadians that even where there may be technical jurisdictional obstacles, that wasn't going to give us a rea‐ son to do anything less than the very best that we can," he said.