QUESTION PERIOD — Infrastructure and Communities
Affordable Housing
June 19, 2024
Senator Gold, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Conservative Party are implying that municipal red tape is to blame for the housing shortage.
However, the Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques has revealed that the number of new housing units built in at least four of Quebec’s major cities has kept pace with demographic growth for the past 20 years. Quebec has no shortage of condos or single-family homes. The problem is that we did not build homes to meet priority needs, like rental housing for families and affordable housing, especially for our low-income seniors.
Instead of pushing around municipalities, which have managed the expansion effectively over the past 20 years, why doesn’t the federal government take a collaborative approach with local governments, in other words, municipalities?
That is exactly what the government is trying to do. Municipalities are on the front lines when it comes to addressing some of the biggest challenges facing Canadians today.
That’s why the federal government has taken a highly collaborative approach to working with the municipalities on finalizing 179 agreements across the country to fast-track the approval of 107,000 additional housing units over the next three years and to spur the construction of over 750,000 new housing units for Canadians in the next decade. These measures add to the $2.4 billion allocated under the Canada Community-Building Fund for 2023-24 to help municipalities meet their infrastructure needs.
Leader, the reason Quebec experienced strong growth in the housing industry is that interest rates were low for 20 years.
The municipalities were able to absorb that growth. The housing crisis is due to the fact that we spent 20 years building condos and single-family homes instead of rental units and affordable housing. For nearly 30 years, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also contributed to the problem by disengaging from social housing.
Will the government admit that it needs to do a lot more to create social and affordable housing and to involve the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation?
Yes, the government recognizes that rent is too high everywhere and that more young families than ever are renting. That is why the government is unlocking over 600,000 new rental homes across the country for the middle class and investing $1.5 billion in the Canada Rental Protection Fund to keep affordable units affordable. The government is unlocking Canada Post properties and other public lands to address this need.
