CHRA Federal Election Campaign: Take action for community housing

The upcoming federal election presents a crucial opportunity to push for real solutions to Canada’s housing crisis. CHRA, in partnership with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, Habitat for Humanity Canada, and the Canadian Real Estate Association, have launched a joint campaign to make community housing a top election issue.

End the Housing Game

Our housing system is an unfair game stacked against Canadians.

The rising cost of living, unpredictable mortgage rates, unaffordable rents, rising home prices, and not enough homes, mean more and more Canadians are falling behind.

America’s trade war against Canada only makes the situation more urgent, pushing more of us out of jobs and homes and towards unsuitable housing and homelessness.

The only way out of the game is together.

Join leading organizations from across the housing sector as we call on all federal parties to build a housing safety net, end homelessness, solve the housing crisis, and ensure that every Canadian has a safe, secure and affordable home.

The Housing Canada Coalition is a partnership between CHRA, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH), Habitat for Humanity Canada, and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Our coalition first came together in 2024, united by our collective vision to fix the housing crisis. As organizations representing housing providers, real estate agents, homebuilders, the community housing sector, affordable homeownership, and the movement to end homelessness – we all have a shared stake in finding solutions so every Canadian has a safe, affordable place to call home.

Join the movement

The Housing Canada Plan

To build a resilient and fair housing system CHRA and our Canada Housing Coalition partners have developed a policy plan, Housing Canada: A Sovereign Plan to Protect Canadians and Build a Resilient Housing System.

This comprehensive strategy outlines the key federal actions needed to address the housing crisis, including:

  • Doubling the share of community housing through new funding mechanisms and incentives.
  • Ensuring public lands are used for affordable housing to unlock land for development.
  • Creating an immediate housing safety net with rental supports and eviction protections.
  • Rapidly Expand Urban, Rural and Northern (URN) Indigenous Housing to meet the housing needs of displaced and dispossessed First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Status, Non-Status, and Status Unknown Indigenous Peoples living in various communities across Canada without dedicated support.
  • Developing a national housing skills strategy to train workers and support faster construction.

We need all federal parties to commit to these bold, achievable solutions.

Read the full Housing Plan.

 

Take Action Today using CHRA’s Election Toolkit

CHRA has created an Election Toolkit with resources to help you engage with your candidates and push for community housing commitments this federal election.

We’re stronger when we stand together. Join us to make community housing a top priority for candidates across the country.

What’s inside:

  • Key messages for speaking with candidates and media.
  • A guide on how to contact and question your local candidates.
  • Tips on hosting local events to keep community housing at the forefront.

Take action now. Download the CHRA Election Toolkit.

Federal election committment tracker

We will be adding housing-related election news to this space throughout the election cycle.

Bloc Québécois

  • March 29, announced their full party platform. This included several commitments on housing:
    • The unconditional money invested into housing directly to the province of Quebec.
    • Aligning all federal programs to those in Quebec.
    • Reviewing the federal government's definition of affordable housing.
    • Increase the proportion of non-market housing in Quebec to 20%.
    • Tougher regulations on those who “flip” housing.
    • The transfer of federal land and buildings at below market rents.
    • Federal investments in housing automatically includes funding for municipal infrastructure.
    • Abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for first-time homebuyers.

Conservative Party of Canada

  • March 10, announced a requirement for cities to build 15 percent more homes each year. If they miss their target, their federal funding will be withheld, equal to how much they miss their target by.
  • March 10, will provide even more land to build on by selling 15% of the federal government’s 37,000 buildings, and require these buildings be turned into affordable housing.
  • March 25, announced that they would eliminate the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all new homes under $1.3 million

Green Party of Canada

  • Launch of Affordable Housing plan. This includes:
    • Changing the definition of affordable housing.
    • Eliminate the unfair tax advantages for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).
    • Stop corporations from buying up single family homes.

Liberal Party of Canada

  • March 20, the elimination of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for first-time homebuyers on homes at or under $1 million.
  • March 31, announced their housing plan. This plan included:
    • The creation of a new government entity, Build Canada Homes (BCH), that will build affordable housing directly.
    • Providing $10 billion in grants and loans to build more affordable housing, including $6 billion for deeply affordable supportive housing.
    • Introducing long-term fixed-rate financing for affordable housing builders.
    • The reduction of red tape and other barriers to home building.

New Democratic Party of Canada

  • March 6, promised to implement national rent control, ban rent price-fixing and fixed-term leases and landlord practices aimed at pushing people out of their homes.
  • March 7, promised to build 3 million new homes by 2030 including 20% non-market housing in all neighbourhoods by announcing two new programs including the Canadian Homes Transfer and the Communities First Fund.
  • March 24, announced several new commitments aimed at building more housing in Canada. Some of their commitments include:
    • Building rent-controlled housing on federal lands
    • Investing $1 billion over 5 years in the Public Land Acquisition Fund
    • Establish a Community Housing Bank
    • Speed up the approvals process on federally owned lands.
    • Provide skilled trades training to 100,000 more people.
  • March 30, announced the creation of low-interest CMHC mortgages to first-time homebuyers.
  • April 1, providing grants and loans to retrofit 3.3 million homes with energy-saving upgrades.