Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his government would increase Canada’s housing supply by 2.3 million homes over the next five years through a combination of measures announced throughout the election campaign.
The Conservatives plan to complete 305,000 housing starts in the first year of governing, 352,000 in the second year, 405,000 in the third, 465,000 in the fourth, and 535,000 in the fifth. Additionally, the Tories project that selling off federal lands in cities will result in 288,000 housing starts.
“When you add it all up, it gets you 2.3 million homes for Canadians in five years; for the young Canadian trapped in your parents’ basement, for the renter unable to save up for a down payment, for the senior worried about eviction after rents have skyrocketed,” Poilievre said during a campaign event in Scarborough, Ont., on April 21.
Poilievre noted that Canada has the second-slowest building permit approval time out of 35 countries, and said his government would give additional funding to cities that permit over 15 percent more homebuilding each year, while reducing funding for cities that miss their building targets. He said cities would be required to pre-permit housing and permit high-density housing around transit stations in order to receive federal funding.
The Tory leader has also said his government would get rid of the GST on new homes under $1.3 million and incentivize municipalities to cut development taxes on new home construction.
Poilievre said that within his first 100 days as prime minister, he would also identify 15 percent of suitable federal land and buildings to be pre-zoned and sold off to build new, affordable homes. He said his government would also put a cap on immigration to “ensure that we always add new homes faster than we add people.”
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“The market will get looser, and Canadian renters and buyers will be shopping around, and they’re going to see more houses for sale, rather than being competing with an excess number of people,” he said.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney has promised $35 billion in new housing investments, including $25 billion in financing to build prefabricated homes and $10 billion in low-cost financing and capital to build affordable homes for students and seniors.
Carney has promised to boost the Liberals’ $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund and further reduce obstacles to the construction of homes by cutting municipal development charges in half for multi-unit residential housing. Carney has also proposed a policy similar to the Conservatives, saying his government will remove the GST on the sale of new homes under $1 million to first-time homebuyers.
The Liberals’ plan to double the pace of residential housing construction to almost 500,000 new homes a year through a new federal housing entity dubbed Build Canada Homes, which would act as a developer and oversee affordable housing construction, ramp up construction, and provide financing to homebuilders.
