Making the housing market fairer for renters and first-time home buyers

HAMILTON, ON, May 3, 2024 /CNW/ - One of the biggest pressures on people right now is housing. Young Canadians – particularly Millennials and Gen Z – are being priced out of their communities. Families are finding it difficult to get a good place to settle down. Rising rents and the high cost of buying a home are making it more difficult for younger generations to find a place to call their own. We need more homes in Canada, and we need to keep them affordable.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today highlighted measures included in Budget 2024 and Canada's Housing Plan to make the housing market fairer for renters and first-time home buyers.

Budget 2024 proposes a landmark measure to make rental payment history count toward your credit score. For most young people, the biggest payment you make is on rent – and if you've been paying that on time for years, that should count toward your credit score. With Budget 2024, you can opt-in to have your on-time rent payments improve your credit score. So, when it comes time to apply for a mortgage, you get a better deal, and get a place of your own, sooner.

Earlier this week, we tabled the Notice of Ways and Means Motion to introduce the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 – and start our work to get this legislation to Canadians. We're prioritizing this bill for a quick, unanimous passage in Parliament – because Canadians need these supports, now.

Measures in the Budget Implementation Act include:

Enhancing the Home Buyers' Plan.

• Increasing the Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit from $35,000 to $60,000 so that first-time home buyers can save up to $25,000 more for their down payment faster.
• Extending the grace period for Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) withdrawals for home buying by an additional three years so that first-time homeowners are not required to start repaying their Home Buyers' Plan withdrawals to their RRSP for up to five years, as opposed to two.

Protecting Canadians from unfair foreign buyers.

• Extending the ban on foreign buying of Canadian homes by an additional two years, meaning that foreign investors cannot buy residential properties in Canada.

Keeping housing available for the middle class.

• Cracking down on short-term rental operators that do not comply with the relevant provincial or municipal laws.
• Launching a $50 million short-term rental enforcement fund to support provinces, territories, and municipalities in their work to unlock homes for Canadians.

These measures will help make sure a home for sale or for rent actually goes to a student, a young family, or a senior – not a big corporation or a foreign investor trying to hoard up supply. It will help renters get a fair rent and, if they'd like to, move into home ownership a lot sooner. It will unlock millions of new homes, meaning that Canadians get a place of their own, at a price they can actually afford.

We're building more homes and making sure they're affordable – and it's just one of the things included in Budget 2024. Alongside these measures, we're growing our economy, investing in health care, and creating good-paying jobs so that every generation can get ahead.

Quotes
"For too long, renters and first-time home buyers haven't been getting a level playing field. We're changing that. With Budget 2024, we're cracking down on short-term rentals and foreign home buyers, giving more power to renters and first-time home buyers, and making the housing market fairer for every generation."
— The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

"Our budget is about fairness for every generation, especially for Millennials and Gen Z. It is made up of real, tangible measures that are going to help more younger Canadians get those first keys of their own. We're acting now because the cost of inaction today would be borne chiefly by younger Canadians – and we will not leave them behind."
— The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

"We are working with partners across the country to solve the housing crisis, and Budget 2024 helps to make that possible. With a plan to build more homes, make it easier to rent or own a home, and helping those who can't afford a home, we can restore the promise of Canada, where every generation can afford a place to call home."
— The Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Quick Facts

• To help solve Canada's housing crisis, Budget 2024 proposes to:
  • Restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters' rights and unlock pathways for them to become homeowners. Learn more.
  • Launch a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction or upgrade of essential infrastructure across the country and get more homes built for Canadians. Learn more.
  • Top-up the Apartment Construction Loan Program with $15 billion, make new reforms so it is easier to access, and launch Canada Builds to call on all provinces and territories to join a Team Canada effort to build more homes, faster. Learn more.
  • Support renters by launching a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to preserve more rental homes and make sure they stay affordable. Learn more.
  • Change the way we build homes in Canada by announcing over $600 million to make it easier and cheaper to build more homes, faster, including through a new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund and a new Housing Design Catalogue. Learn more.
  • Support housing and infrastructure needs in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities through an investment of $918 million so they can grow and thrive. Learn more.
  • Build more affordable homes on public lands – and make housing fairer for every generation. Learn more.
• A new Deputy Minister of Public Lands and Housing position has also been created within the Privy Council Office. The Deputy Minister will oversee and report on federal efforts to build more homes for Canadians through the use of public lands, providing a single point of accountability within the public service. An appointment to this role was announced recently.
• On April 12, 2024, the federal government released its ambitious housing plan, Solving the housing crisis: Canada's Housing Plan, supported by new investments from Budget 2024. At the heart of this plan lies a commitment to make housing affordable so that no hard-working Canadian spends more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. The plan acknowledges the diverse needs of Canadians and is centred around these three pillars:
  • Building more homes by bringing down the costs of homebuilding, helping cities make it easier to build homes at a faster pace, changing the way Canadian homebuilders manufacture homes, and growing the workforce to ensure we get the job done.
  • Making it easier to own or rent a home by ensuring that every renter or homeowner has a home that suits their needs, and the stability to retain it.
  • Helping Canadians who can't afford a home by building more affordable housing for students, seniors, persons with disabilities, equity-deserving communities, and eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada.
• The Home Buyers' Plan is a program that allows Canadians to withdraw from RRSPs to buy or build a qualifying home for themselves, as first-time home buyers, or for a specified disabled person. 
• Canada is already building more homes faster and making housing more affordable through:
  • The Apartment Construction Loan Program, a $40 billion initiative that is being topped up with an additional $15 billion in Budget 2024 to boost the construction of new rental homes by providing low-cost financing to homebuilders. Since 2017, the Apartment Construction Loan Program has committed over $18 billion in loans to support the creation of more than 48,000 new rental homes. With our recently announced measures, the Apartment Construction Loan Program is now on track to help build over 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2031-32.
  • The Affordable Housing Fund, a $14+ billion initiative that is being topped up with an additional $1 billion in Budget 2024 to launch a new rapid housing stream. The Fund supports the creation of new market and below-market rental housing and the repair and renewal of existing housing. It is designed to attract partnerships and investments to develop projects that meet a broad spectrum of housing needs, from shelters to affordable homeownership. As of December 31, 2023, the Fund has committed $8+ billion to repair or renew over 150,000 homes and support the construction of more than 32,000 new homes.
  • The Housing Accelerator Fund, a $4 billion initiative that is being topped up with an additional $400 million in Budget 2024 to encourage municipalities to incentivize building by making transformative changes, such as removing prohibitive zoning barriers. To date, the federal government has signed 179 Housing Accelerator Fund agreements which, combined, will fast-track an estimated total of over 750,000 housing units across the country over the next decade.
  • The Rapid Housing Initiative, a $4 billion fund that is fast-tracking the construction of 15,500 new affordable homes for people experiencing homelessness or in severe housing need by 2026. The Rapid Housing Initiative also supports the acquisition of existing buildings for the purpose of rehabilitation or conversion to permanent affordable housing units, focusing on the housing needs of the most vulnerable, including people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, women fleeing domestic violence, seniors, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities.
• Progress on these and other programs and initiatives under Canada's National Housing Strategy are updated quarterly at www.placetocallhome.ca. The Housing Funding Initiatives Map shows housing projects that have been developed.
• Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.

Associated Links

• Fairness for Every Generation
• Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation
• 2023 Fall Economic Statement
• Solving the housing crisis: Canada's Housing Plan
• The Home Buyers' Plan

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

PMO Media Relations: [email protected]