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Decentralized Democracy

Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party

Laurel Collins

  • Member of Parliament
  • Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party
  • NDP
  • Victoria
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 61%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $127,392.53

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 264 - Dec/7/23
Ms. Laurel Collins
  • Dec/7/23 12:02:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question. It is a very important one. A housing acquisition fund is a key policy piece that can support housing organizations to acquire the land to provide housing. It is wild to me that the government is giving money out to private developers with no strings and no requirements to ensure affordability or to ensure that the people whose housing is being demolished to build new housing will be able to afford the new units. It is unbelievable. We also need to tackle real estate investment trusts, which are raking in record profits while renovicting tenants to maximize profits. We give them tax loopholes and incentives and do not make them pay the corporate tax. It is wild. Let us implement a housing acquisition fund. Let us take the loopholes out of our system—
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Context: House Hansard - 45 - Mar/24/22
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • Mar/24/22 2:16:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a critical shortage of affordable housing in my community. Many people have given up on the idea of ever owning a home, but even finding an affordable place to rent is getting further and further out of reach. B.C. has not been getting its fair share of federal funding under the rapid housing initiative. Worse still, the supply of older rental stock is being bought up by REITs, real estate income trusts, that use tactics like renovictions to jack up rent, pushing people out of their homes and removing affordable units from the market. Housing advocates and the City of Victoria are calling for a federal acquisition fund to give local governments and non-profits the quick capital to buy properties at risk of being bought up by these predatory REITs. We must preserve our existing affordable housing stock. It is time for the federal government to return to the table as a true partner with municipalities, indigenous governments and co-operatives to stop treating housing as an investment and start treating housing as a human right.
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