44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 8, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/8/22 12:49:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his intervention and his comments, especially as they relate to greater co-operation in the House and the tone that we take. I think that is very important. I would like to mention that I have enjoyed working well with my colleague on the finance committee. As he referenced, we did make an amendment to government legislation. I hope I can look forward to some potential co-operation in the future with respect to legislation as well.
With respect to the budget, the question I have for this member is this: The government has put forward, in part of its housing strategy, a marquee new account for young people to save for a home. I wonder if he could let the House know what his thoughts are on the housing strategy in general but in particular this marquee savings account that this government will be touting all across the country.
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- Apr/8/22 12:50:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to get such a thoughtful question on housing policy. I think the issue I have with that and that I am concerned about is that, in the absence of an aggressive initiative by the government to address the financialization of housing, efforts like this to make a little bit more cash available to first-time homebuyers are just going to get eaten up in the bidding process. If we had a relatively stable housing market, without the kind of year-over-year price increases that we have seen, this kind of thing might be helpful, but in a context where bidding wars continue to drive up the price year over year in incredible ways, my concern is that this is simply going to contribute to higher bids on houses. The winners there are developers and real estate agents, not the homebuyers.
That is why we need to see the government take action like, for instance, what they have done in New Zealand, where they have an incrementally higher down payment for every subsequent property. We need to cool the investment activity before a policy like this can really make the difference all members would want to see it make.
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- Apr/8/22 1:25:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I just listened to my colleague's speech, in which he talked about the need for housing, which is pressing in Quebec and especially in my riding.
The vacancy rate in the city of Rimouski is 0.2% right now, and that is unprecedented. The city has the fourth-worst rate in Quebec. The national housing strategy announced by the Liberal government in 2017 allocated $40 billion over 10 years. We are halfway through that time frame, but the government has not yet invested half of that amount. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer predicted that the targets set by the government would not be met.
Yesterday's budget announced $4 billion over 10 years to create 100,000 new homes. We need 100,000 new homes in the next five years just in Quebec.
Can my colleague explain to me how the money announced yesterday is really going to help address the housing crisis?
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- Apr/8/22 1:26:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question.
I can say that yesterday's budget really does focus on residential housing. It includes over $4 billion in new money over six years. We are addressing this issue through our residential housing policy, which will inject about $70 billion into affordable residential housing by 2025-26.
In addition, we will invest $4.3 billion over seven years in residential housing for indigenous communities across Canada. The money will be distributed among Inuit, first nations and Métis peoples. This is extremely important for our country, and we will continue to work with the territories, the provinces and indigenous nations to achieve these goals.
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- Apr/8/22 1:28:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what about housing for persons with disabilities? We see some small investments in this budget for housing co-ops, but CMHC used to be a leader in building co-operative housing, which is critical to the disability community.
Today I ask this: Will the Liberals commit to immediately restoring CMHC's former role in spearheading social development housing, expanding co-ops and building more co-ops, and protecting current co-ops from being scooped by REITs?
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- Apr/8/22 1:28:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is really a budget that is focused on affordability and housing. There is over $14 billion of new investment over six years for non-profit housing. There are significant amounts for indigenous housing, co-developed in partnership with Métis, first nations and Inuit groups. There is $845 million for housing in Inuit Nunangat alone.
We are working very closely with indigenous nations, territories and provinces. I do know there is an important sum for co-operative housing, and we will work with our partners to build good projects.
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