44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 4, 2022 02:00PM
- May/4/22 2:58:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, housing prices are a real concern, especially for middle-class Canadians hoping to afford their first homes. That is why, since we brought in 2017's national housing strategy, we have seen millions of families move into new homes supported by government programs. Through budget 2022, we are making further investments to double housing construction in this decade, help Canadians buy their first home, curb unfair practices that drive up the price of housing, and support the construction of affordable housing. We recognize there is still more to do, and we will continue to do it. That is what Canadians expect of us.
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- May/4/22 3:02:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since the Liberals took office in 2015, national home prices have more than doubled. This is greatly outpacing the United States and other G7 countries. The Liberal government has had six years to fix this issue and has failed to develop a plan that works. Instead of Canadians moving into new homes, the dream of home ownership or an affordable place to live is moving further and further away.
When will the Prime Minister finally focus on building new homes?
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- May/4/22 3:02:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when we took office in 2015, we started from a standing start in terms of federal investments in housing because the previous Conservative government, for 10 years, had not seen housing as a priority for it to invest in. We moved forward with 2017's historic national housing strategy, which is now up to about 70 billion dollars' worth of investments, to help families get into homes.
In budget 2022, we are moving forward with support for families to save up and investments with municipalities to double the increase in housing over the coming years, and we are cracking down on unfair speculation. These are the things that will help families get into their new homes.
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Madam Speaker, it is interesting to hear my friend across the way talk a great deal about housing, but not in any way talk about the problem of supply. The main reason we have such high housing prices in this country is there is a greater need for homes than is met by the current supply, and all of his proposals involve creating more challenges and barriers for investors.
An alternative option is to create incentives to make it easier for investors to invest in new home construction and to encourage those investments, because while there are many people who want to invest in housing, there are so many barriers in place that make it hard to bring new construction online. Those barriers are not just at the federal level; a great number of those barriers are in place at all levels.
How can we address the housing challenges and costs if we do not address the supply problem? If we do address the supply problem, does it not make everything so much easier afterward?
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Madam Speaker, I really wish we were in the House talking about an NDP budget, because in listening to the member's speech, many Canadians will understand that a totally different view would be happening in this country if we had that.
My question to the member is specifically around housing and non-market housing. I am working with many constituents in my riding who have lost their homes. They cannot rent, because they are getting renovictions. We have a lot of people moving to my riding, buying houses and pushing the market up so high that people cannot even dream of buying homes within their own communities anymore. What we do not have is affordable housing: market housing that would let them have places to be safe.
Could the member speak about how the government could do so much better if it would actually take action?
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