In the lead-up to the release of the 2024 federal budget (due to be announced on April 16), CHRA is keeping track on housing-related announcements from the federal government. Stay tuned to this space in over the next couple of weeks to learn about new funding, initiatives, and updates.
April 12
The federal government released Canada's Housing Plan, which will be supported by investments forthcoming in Budget 2024.
The Plan lays out a strategy to create 3.87 million new homes by 2031 "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". Measures include:
- A Public Lands for Homes Plan to lead a national effort to build affordable housing on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal lands across the country. We will partner with homebuilders and housing providers to build homes on every possible site across the public portfolio and ensure long-term affordability.
- $15 billion in additional loans for the Apartment Construction Loan Program to build a minimum of 30,000 new rental apartments, in big cities, small towns, and rural communities alike, will be proposed in Budget 2024. With this additional financing, the program is on track to build over 131,000 new apartments by 2031-32.
- Launching Canada Builds, a Team Canada approach to building affordable homes for the middle class on under-utilized lands across the country. Canada Builds combines federal low-cost loans with provincial and territorial investments to scale up construction on rental homes for the middle class, from coast to coast to coast.
- Supporting Indigenous Peoples living away from their communities in urban, rural, and northern areas. We will provide additional distinctions-based investments for Indigenous housing to be delivered by Indigenous governments, organizations, housing, and service providers.
- Providing $1 billion for the Affordable Housing Fund to build affordable homes and launching a permanent Rapid Housing Stream to build on the success of the previous three rounds of the Rapid Housing Initiative.
- Launching a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to protect and expand affordable housing.
This is in addition to the measures previously announced over the past few weeks plus:
- $90 million for the Apprenticeship Service, creating apprenticeship opportunities to train and recruit the next generation of skilled trades workers.
- $10 million for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness program to encourage high school students to enter the skilled trades – creating more jobs and opportunities for the next generation of workers to build Canada up.
- $50 million in the Foreign Credential Recognition Program, with a focus on residential construction to help skilled trades workers get more homes built. Like our previous $115 million investment, this funding will remove barriers to credential recognition, so workers spend less time dealing with red-tape and more time getting shovels in the ground.
April 5
The federal government announced:
- A new $50 million Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fundthat will seek to leverage an additional $150 million from the private sector and other orders of government to support the scale-up, commercialization, and adoption of innovative housing technologies and materials, including for modular and prefabricated homes.
- $50 million to modernize and expedite home building through the regional development agencies.
- $500 million to support rental housing. With low-cost financing through the Apartment Construction Loan Program, this will support new rental housing projects using innovative construction techniques from prefabricated and modular housing manufacturers as well as other homebuilders.
- A modernized Housing Design Catalogue to standardize up to 50 efficient, cost-effective, and liveable home blueprints. With $11.6 million in Budget 2024, this will include frames for modular homes, row housing, and fourplexes – that housing manufacturers, provinces, territories, and municipalities will be able to use to simplify and accelerate their housing approvals and construction timelines.
April 4
Prime Minister Trudeau announced the launch of a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to protect affordable housing and create thousands of new affordable apartments.
The Fund will provide $1 billion in loans and $470 million in contributions to non-profit organizations and other partners so they can acquire units and preserve rent prices in the long term.
The Fund will be co-led with the affordable housing sector and co-funded by the federal government and other partners and will mobilize investments and financing from the charitable sector and the private sector to protect and grow affordable housing in Canada.
April 3
The federal government announced:
- A $15 billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program
- Reforms to the Apartment Construction Loan Program to increase access to the program and make it easier for builders to build, including:
- Extending loan terms;
- Introducing a portfolio approach to eligibility requirements so builders can move forward on multiple sites at once;
- Providing additional flexibility on affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility requirements; and
- Launching a new frequent builder stream to fast-track the application process for proven home builders.
- Launching Canada Builds – partnering with provinces and territories to build more rental housing across the country which includes:
- Building on government, non-profit, community-owned, and vacant lands;
- Streamlining the process to cut development approval timelines to no longer than 12 to 18 months
April 2
The federal government announced:
- A $400 million top-up to the Housing Accelerator Fund so that "municipalities can cut red tape, fast-track home construction, and invest in affordable housing".
- $6 billion in conditional funding for provinces and territories under the new Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund "to accelerate the construction and upgrading of critical housing infrastructure". To qualify, Provinces and Territories will have to
- Require municipalities to broadly adopt four units as-of-right and allow other multi-unit apartments.
- Adopt forthcoming changes to the National Building Code to support more accessible, affordable, and climate-friendly housing options.
- Require as-of-right construction for the government’s upcoming Housing Design Catalogue.
- Implement measures from the Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and Renters’ Bill of Rights.
- That municipalities must take action to unlock housing supply in order to qualify for federal funding through the government's forthcoming public transit fund, including by completing a Housing Needs Assessment
March 27
The federal government announced measures "to make the playing field fairer for renters and make it easier for them to become homeowners" including:
- A $15 million Tenant Protection Fund that "would provide funding to legal aid and tenants’ rights advocacy organizations to better protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, renovictions, or bad landlords".
- The creation of a Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights to help improve renters' agency, create a standard national lease, crack down on renovictions, and require landlords to disclose a clear history of apartment pricing.
- Helping renters build a credit history by ensuring rental history counts towards their credit scores.