Questions

If elected, will your party maintain and expand the National Housing Strategy program, and ensure greater flexibility and streamlined access to federal funding for housing?

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  Housing affordability is an essential part of creating a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous future for the region, and for Canada. With approximately 10,000 people on the BC Housing waitlist and a growing population, Metro Vancouver estimates it will need more than 5,500 new rental units every year for the next 10 years in order to meet critical demand for affordable housing across the region. This includes lower-end market housing, subsidized housing and social housing. But the region can’t do it alone. Improving affordability requires actions and partnerships with all orders of government.

  The National Housing Strategy has been a significant step towards addressing the housing affordability crisis felt acutely in Metro Vancouver, but more can be done to build up supply.

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  Response not yet received.

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  The Liberal government created Canada’s National Housing Strategy – an ambitious ten-year plan to invest over $72 billion to build supply, make housing affordable, and address chronic homelessness. Between 2015 and 2019, under the National Housing Strategy, we have invested over $1.6 billion in British Columbia, supporting 11,700 new units, 7,500 repaired units, and helped 84,000 families or individuals secure a more affordable place to live.

  A re-elected Liberal government, among other initiatives, will invest $4 billion in a new Housing Accelerator Fund to grow annual housing supply in the country’s largest cities every year, creating a target of 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2024-25. This applications-based fund will offer support to municipalities that: grow housing supply faster than their historical average, increase densification, speed-up approval times, tackle NIMBYism and establish inclusionary zoning bylaws, and encourage public transit-oriented development.

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  Canada is in the midst of a national housing crisis. Metro Vancouver has some of the steepest housing costs in the country. Owning a home is out of reach for many Canadians while renters are paying more than 30 per cent of their monthly income on housing. And, in a country as wealthy as Canada, there is no excuse for allowing Canadians to live in poverty without a secure roof over their heads.

  New Democrats believe that everyone has a right to housing. We will start tackling the housing crisis by creating at least 500,000 units of quality, affordable housing over the next decade. New Democrats will build on the work that Metro Vancouver Housing has done so far by providing a mix of units available: from co-ops, social, and non-profit housing in partnership with municipalities and provinces.

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  Yes. Affordable Housing is a critical aspect of allowing Canadians to live a Life with dignity. The Green Party of Canada is committed to making the right to adequate housing a reality by:

  • Declaring housing affordability and homelessness a national emergency;
  • Redefining affordable housing using a better, updated formula, that accounts for regional variations; and
  • Immediately appointing the Federal Housing Advocate, as established in the National Housing Strategy Act.

  Platform 21 further addresses the intrinsically related issues of:

  • Support for renters;
  • Investment in housing;
  • Ensuring access to housing for Indigenous Peoples;
  • Confronting youth homelessness and unaffordable housing; and
  • Providing services and supports to they homeless community, like expanded mental health services and direct funding to municipalities for supporting people in the homeless community who use drugs.

If elected, will your party increase the size and availability of the CMHC’s grant programs in order to support major sustainability upgrades in existing and new housing, as well as the development and preservation of affordable rental housing?

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  Metro Vancouver Housing provides safe and affordable rental homes to more than 9,400 people on 49 sites across the region. Many of these housing sites were built with the help of previous federal government funding programs.

  The current Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) programming, under the National Housing Strategy, prioritizes low-interest loans over grants for affordable housing. While these loans are important for financing projects, they force housing providers to allocate revenue to repay loans instead of investing in new affordable housing.

  Grants would reduce the risk taken on by housing providers and would let them provide more affordable housing at a much faster pace—something desperately needed in the Metro Vancouver region if we are to address housing affordability.

  Without an expedited building of affordable units in Metro Vancouver the prosperity, economy and livability will be severely impacted.

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  Response not yet received.

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  Strong action is needed to help Canadians protect their homes and communities from the impacts of climate change. A re-elected Liberal government will expand the eligibility requirements of the CMHC deep home retrofit program and Canada Greener Home Grants to include more climate resilience measures.

  We will also permanently increase funding to the National Housing Co-Investment Fund by a total of $2.7 billion over 4 years. In other words, we are more than doubling its current allocation. These extra funds will help build and preserve more affordable units, extend co-op housing to new communities, accelerate critical repairs to preserve housing supply, and develop projects for vulnerable groups.
  

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  A NDP government will provide up to $5,000 in immediate rental support to Canadians, which will help young people who make up a significant percentage of renters. New Democrats will also make it easier for young people to buy their first home by bringing back 30-year terms to CMHC insured mortgages on entry-level homes that allow young people to make smaller monthly payments.

  New Democrats will also fight money laundering, which drives up housing costs and makes it impossible for young people to afford to buy a home. We will implement a 20% foreign buyer’s tax on the sale of homes for people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents. We will strengthen regulations to close loopholes, establish transparency, and hold corporations and nameless companies accountable.

  A New Democrat government will also implement our plan to end homelessness in Canada within a decade.

  We will also implement a large-scale program to retrofit all home and buildings in Canada by 2050 to prepare communities to become climate resilient as we work towards achieving a sustainable future for all.

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  The Green Party of Canada’s approach to Investment in housing is very much aligned with this approach to expediting building of affordable units in Metro Vancouver. With regards to the CMHC programs in particular, a Green Government would re-focus the core mandate of the CMHC on supporting the development of affordable, non-market and cooperative housing, as opposed to its current priority of supporting Canadian lenders to de-risk investment in housing ownership. This shift will enable the CMHC to focus most of its attention entirely on rental housing, something we think is long overdue.