44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 1, 2022 10:00AM
- Dec/1/22 10:10:34 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud this morning to rise on behalf of over 2,000 petitioners who recognize that housing affordability and homelessness are twin national crises. They note that private corporations and real estate investment trusts are rapidly buying up affordable units across the country and raising rents, and that this financialization of the housing market is inflating real estate prices. They are calling on the Government of Canada to implement a suite of eight different measures that would address this root cause of the housing crisis that we are in, including creating regulations for real estate investment trusts, putting in place a national standard for rent control and providing funding for non-profit and co-op housing.
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- Dec/1/22 2:15:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the last three years, over 453 people have died on the streets of Edmonton because they did not have shelter. Just last month, three more people died in encampments, and hundreds more are facing another brutal Alberta winter in tents. Some of them will not survive.
Community organizations in my district of Edmonton Griesbach do heroic life-saving work, but they have had to shoulder this burden alone. Conservative and Liberal consecutive governments have refused to step up and fight the corporate greed that is the cause of the housing crisis. Decades of cuts and neglect have left Canada with one of the lowest shares of public housing in the G7.
The state of our public housing is horrific. Many sites I toured this summer had black mould and even had no running water. It is time for the government to get serious about tackling the housing crisis.
The New Democrats will never stop fighting until no one has to spend another Alberta winter in a tent. People should not have to die like this today.
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- Dec/1/22 2:24:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, National Bank came out with staggering housing statistics today. It now takes 67% of the average monthly income to pay bills on the average home. In fact, the average mortgage payment for a new home in Toronto is now $7,000, and that is if one can afford the home, because it takes now 27 years for the average person to save up for the down payment on that home.
How is it possible that the average Canadian cannot afford the average home here in the nation with the second biggest supply of land anywhere on earth?
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- Dec/1/22 2:24:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that one of the main challenges facing the housing market is enough housing supply. We have the fastest growing population in the G7 but very little supply.
That is why we introduced the housing accelerator fund, to work directly with municipalities to increase and double the new construction of housing in the country. We are also introducing a new, innovative rent-to-own program and putting together a first-time homebuyer tax-free savings account of $40,000, as well as doubling the first-time homebuyers' tax credit. Those are real actions that those members voted against.
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- Dec/1/22 2:25:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the only thing they doubled is the cost of housing. House prices have doubled since this Prime Minister came to power. Inflationary spending with printed money inflated the price of houses. Now, rising tax rates are making mortgage payments more expensive too. The vast majority of Canadians cannot even dream of owning a home these days.
When will the government change its inflationary policies and encourage municipalities to allow large-scale housing construction so Canadians can have a home to live in?
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- Dec/1/22 2:26:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the biggest gatekeeper against municipalities building more housing supply is the leader of the official opposition because he voted against the housing accelerator fund, a fund designed precisely to invest in more housing supply. When we were talking about the first-time homebuyers' $40,000 tax-free savings account, the leader of the official opposition directed his team to vote against it.
These are real efforts at making sure more and more Canadians can access the dream of home ownership, but the fact of the matter is that, while the Conservatives talk about gatekeepers, they are the biggest gatekeepers. They are not serious about this issue. They do not have a plan. It has been 300 days since he became leader—
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- Dec/1/22 3:11:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week Canada's federal housing advocate was clear that the national housing strategy is failing. In my community we are seeing this first-hand. Over the past three years, the number of people experiencing homelessness has tripled. Organizations across the Waterloo region are ready to build the affordable housing we need, but they are still waiting on federal funding.
Will the Minister of Housing commit to ensuring the national housing strategy actually reduces homelessness in my community and in others across the country?
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- Dec/1/22 3:11:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a really important issue. That is why our government has prioritized investments to reduce and eventually eliminate chronic homelessness from Canada. We have doubled the federal program to combat homelessness, from $2 billion to just over $4 billion. In addition to that, we have introduced the rapid housing initiative, which has resulted in 10,250 deeply affordable homes, targeting the most vulnerable members of our communities.
We know those investments are working all across the country. Some 64,000 Canadians were prevented from joining the ranks of the homeless in this country, and 32,000 were taken out of homelessness.
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