QUESTION PERIOD — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
First-Time Home Buyer Incentive
May 18, 2022
Government leader, today, I’m going to give you an opportunity to provide a better answer than you did yesterday when I asked you about the lack of details on changes to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Last month’s budget provided no details on how the NDP-Liberal government will change this program or when these changes will be in effect.
This is a serious matter for Canadians. April’s record inflation, which Senator Plett referred to earlier, was largely driven by the cost of groceries and the cost of shelter. In fact, Statistics Canada revealed that in April, shelter costs rose at their highest pace since 1983 — almost 40 years ago.
Leader, when will Canadians learn how you will change the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive and on what date those changes come into effect?
Thank you for the question and the opportunity to improve upon my answer. I fear, as seems to be the case, I may disappoint you. I don’t have a date. I could stop there, and I won’t go on much longer. I’ll make inquiries and certainly report back.
It is important for Canadians to understand the measures the government has taken to deal with the complex question of housing affordability, a large part of which is a question of supply. In that regard I will stop here, but I will be happy to answer further questions on the measures that are being taken by the government to work with industry and other levels of government to address what is a real problem for which solutions are rather challenging.
Speaking of solutions, I have another issue to take up with you. According to information released on Monday from the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average cost of a home in the greater Vancouver area went up about 19% between April 2021 and April 2022. In other parts of British Columbia, the increase was even worse. Over the same time frame, home prices went up by a third on Vancouver Island and in the Chilliwack area, and by more than 35% in the Fraser Valley.
Leader, yesterday you mentioned the creation of a tax-free, first-home savings account. As I’m sure you know, your government admits that it won’t be available for another year. How does that help those who dream of owning their own home now, especially first-time homebuyers in B.C.?
Thank you for the question. Putting in place certain programs, like the changes to the tax regime, does take some time as experienced senators and experienced Canadians will understand. That is not to say that the government is not putting into place measures to try to address the issues and provide assistance within a shorter time frame.
Many of these measures are set out in Budget 2022 in an effort to double the number of homes built in Canada over the next decade, rapidly increase the supply of affordable housing and ensure that homes are actually used by the families who purchased them. That’s why the government is investing $4 billion in the new Housing Accelerator Fund to help municipalities speed up construction to create 100,000 new units. That is why the government is investing $1.5 billion to extend the Rapid Housing Initiative and create an additional 6,000 deeply affordable housing units. That’s why it’s advancing $2.9 billion in funding under the National Housing Co‑Investment Fund to build and repair up to 22,000 units, and why the government is creating a $500-million cooperative housing development program to expand cooperative housing.
