The federal and Ontario governments have pledged a combined $8.8-billion over a decade, but said some of the falling revenues from cuts to development charges must be funded by the municipalities.
Three steps can signal the federal government is serious about homeownership affordability: expand GST relief to all new homebuyers, work with provinces and municipalities to reduce development charges, and fix the mortgage stress test.
What we see across the country is still a crisis, yes, but it is a crisis that Indigenous communities are now meeting head on, writes John Gordon.
It’s a lot to ask of the populations of three territories to help protect an entire country through the use of their land if they don’t have reasonable access to electricity, housing, and publicly-funded health care in Canada.
Would-be first-time buyers are stuck between choosing ‘too small’ or ‘too expensive.’ A vibrant housing system needs to include options and opportunity across its entire continuum.
Treating the housing crisis as singular supply issue risks missing both the problem and the solution.
An Affordable Housing Gifts program would remove barriers to companies and individuals looking to donate land to qualified Community Land Trusts.
We can meet housing challenges, but only if every order of government and other key stakeholders work together with purpose and urgency.
BCH’s planned 4,000 units over six sites is a good start, but falls well short of what’s needed.
When the primary goal becomes building as many units as possible, as quickly as possible, the needs and rights of marginalized communities can be overlooked.
Misalignment between federal, provincial, and municipal requirements causes delays that compound costs year after year.
Housing is deeply interconnected with health outcomes, community safety, and economic participation.
It’s time for a renewed national strategy that treats housing as essential infrastructure for health and well-being, and invests at scale in community housing.
It’s time to bring Canada’s housing policy out of the past so we can begin to address the urgent needs of today.
The choices Canada makes now will shape both its housing market and its emissions profile for a generation.
An occupational therapy review of standardized modular templates could ensure that every unit built from those plans meets basic functional accessibility standards.
The residential construction sector can’t use new technologies like modular housing while operating in a fragmented, constantly shifting regulatory environment.
Canada’s housing crisis did not emerge overnight, and it will not be solved by any single initiative.
Canada is still nowhere near the level needed to make housing affordable for the middle class, and despite Robertson’s municipal bonafides, the federal plan is still not well defined, say observers and critics.
One thing is crystal clear: Canadians do not want a US-style, two-party political system. They know that a healthy democracy needs a range of parties with a diversity of ideas.
Affording a home now is not quite as problematic as it was during the COVID years, but affordability is still the worst it’s been in Canada in 25 years, according to RBC.
The Canadian Association for Long Term Care says it will need an additional 382,400 to 454,000 beds by 2035 to keep up with demand. This is an increase of between 93 per cent and 121 per cent.
The new agency will face pressure from the development industry to give away public land or sell it cheaply; from big lenders to avoid borrowing rate competition by keeping the cost of capital high; and from housing co-operatives to transfer ownership of public land to them.
Canada has big ambitions to build. Our success will depend not just on what we build, but how we build it.
The budget says the government would consider using Community Employment Benefits agreements. While they can be good, some have been used to exclude union workers from projects, leading to reduced competition and large cost overruns.