QUESTION PERIOD — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Affordable Housing
April 9, 2024
Government leader, the Prime Minister recently flew to Vancouver to make an announcement about rent. He said young Canadians are facing skyrocketing rents, “renovictions,” unfair competition and the lack of housing options. Of course, this is an indictment of his own government’s failure to take housing and the high cost of rent seriously. In February, the average monthly residential rent in Canada stood at $2,193. This is an increase of 10.5% in one year. In fact, rent has gone up 21% in just two years, for an average of $384 per month.
Leader, why should Canadians believe the Trudeau government can build more homes and solve this crisis when rent has doubled under their watch?
Thank you for your question and, again, for underlining the very important challenge that Canadians are facing — especially younger Canadians, but not only younger Canadians.
Again, colleagues, respectfully, this government has done more than any previous government — in tangible ways — to assist Canadians, whether they are renters or seeking to purchase homes. That is notwithstanding both the market complexity and the jurisdictional complexity that surround any attempts to accelerate and create accommodations for Canadians.
This fall alone, the Government of Canada has delivered measures that will unlock well over 600,000 new rental homes, including many which are in the affordable housing range.
Leader, as I said, rent has doubled under your government’s watch. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, which is a Crown corporation, issued its 2024 Housing Market Outlook, saying:
Despite more rental completions, growing demand for rental homes will not be met because the cost of homeownership will lead households to stay in rental housing. Rents will rise and vacancy rates will fall.
Leader, if the Trudeau government’s so-called Housing Accelerator Fund and its other announcements and photo ops are working, then wouldn’t the cost of rent go down, not keep going up?
Thank you for your question.
Respectfully, the cost of housing is a function of many market forces in addition to initiatives that the government is doing to increase supply. It is clearly a more complicated issue than the simple binary one of who happened to sit in the Prime Minister’s Office at a given time.
