441-02209 (Social affairs and equality)

The Government of Canada thanks the petitioners for expressing their views about the importance of affordable housing.

The response from the Department of Finance to part 2), 3), 6) and 8) is as follows:

Part 2) The government is committed to ensuring that investor activity is helping, not hurting, housing affordability in Canada. To this end, the government indicated in Budget 2023 that policy changes applicable to all large corporate landlords could be considered to ensure best outcomes on affordability and fair treatment of tenants.

Part 3) The Government of Canada continues to make significant investments in new initiatives to strengthen Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing (AML/ATF) Regime, including specific actions to counter money laundering in real estate from either domestic or foreign sources.

For example, regulatory amendments that came into force June 2021 have strengthened AML/ATF obligations for all reporting sectors, including the real estate sector. In particular, real estate agents, brokers and developers are now required to take reasonable measures during certain transactions or activities to collect beneficial ownership information, determine if a client is a politically exposed person, and to take enhanced measures if the client is high-risk. The latter includes specific obligations such as establishing the client’s source of funds and source of wealth, and obtaining senior management review of a transaction of $100,000 or more.

Further, as of October 11, 2024, mortgage administrators, brokers and lenders will become subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). These persons and entities will be required to fulfil similar obligations to financial entities, including developing a compliance program, risk assessing their business, clients, and products, keeping records, verifying client identity, and reporting to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

Furthermore, to counter the misuse of anonymous Canadian shell companies for illegal activities, including money laundering, corruption, and tax evasion, a free and public beneficial ownership registry for federal corporations was launched on January 22, 2024. The Government of Canada will continue to collaborate with provincial and territorial governments to advance a pan-Canadian approach to beneficial ownership transparency. 

In addition, on December 15, 2022, Parliament passed legislation (C-32) to enhance the tax reporting obligations imposed on certain trusts. These measures are intended to improve the collection of beneficial ownership information and encourage tax transparency to help provide authorities with sufficient information in order to determine taxpayers’ tax liabilities and to effectively counter aggressive tax avoidance as well as tax evasion, money laundering and other criminal activities. The new rules will apply to the tax years of trusts that end after December 30, 2023.

Finally, the government has taken action to curb foreign investment and speculation in Canadian housing, as committed in Budget 2022. On January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act came into force. The Act prohibits people who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents from purchasing residential property in Canada for a period of two years, including preventing non-Canadians from using corporate structures to avoid the prohibition. The Act also establishes penalties for non-Canadians purchasing residential property (and those knowingly assisting them).

Part 6) The government announced its intention to introduce such a tax in Budget 2021.

The Underused Housing Tax Act, which received royal assent as part of Bill C-8 on June 9, 2022, implements an annual tax of 1% on the value of vacant or underused residential property directly or indirectly owned by non-resident non-Canadians.

Part 8) Bill C-56 implemented an enhanced (100%) Good and Services Tax (GST) rebate for new purpose-built rental housing. With the extension of that rebate, announced in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, to co-operative housing corporations that provide long-term rental accommodation, as included for Parliament’s consideration in Bill C-59, this measure will benefit all landlords that build or purchase new purpose-built rental housing, including non-profits and cooperatives.

Additionally, the 2023 Fall Economic Statement announced a series of measures targeting non-profits and cooperatives, including:

• an additional $1 billion over three years, starting in 2025-26, for the Affordable Housing Fund, which will support non-profit, co-op, and public housing providers to build more than 7,000 new homes by 2028. This brings total program funding to over $14 billion, with the goal of supporting 60,000 new housing units and renewing / repairing another 240,000.
• an additional investment of $309.3 million in new funding for the Co-operative Housing Development Program.
• an additional $15 billion in low-interest loans for purpose-built rentals, which is available to non-profit developers through the Apartment Construction Loan Program. This brings total program funding to over $40 billion, with the goal of supporting over 100,000 homes.

The Government of Canada thanks the petitioners for sharing their concerns about access to a safe, affordable place to call home. 

The Government of Canada believes that all people living in Canada should have access to safe and affordable housing. Launched in 2017, the National Housing Strategy (NHS) is a 10-year, more than $82 billion plan to give more people living in Canada a place to call home. The NHS is Canada’s largest and most ambitious federal housing program in history and consists of complementary programs and initiatives that aim to address needs across the housing continuum, prioritizing populations most in need. The NHS sets ambitious targets to ensure that unprecedented investments and new programming deliver results. By 2028, it will help create over 160,000 new housing units, repair and renew an additional 300,000, reduce or eliminate housing need for 540,000 households and protect 385,000 households from losing an affordable place to live. The Government of Canada is making substantial progress toward NHS 2027-2028 targets.

The NHS is anchored in the National Housing Strategy Act (NHS Act), which requires the Government of Canada to develop and maintain a national housing strategy with a long-term vision for housing that focuses on improving housing outcomes for those in greatest need. The NHS Act also requires the NHS to take into account the key principles of a human rights-based approach to housing, including the principles of non-discrimination, inclusion, participation, and accountability. The NHS prioritizes the needs of the most vulnerable, including women and children fleeing situations of domestic violence; racialized persons; seniors; Indigenous peoples; persons with disabilities; those dealing with mental health and addiction issues; veterans; and young adults. It promotes diverse communities, supports the creation of housing that is sustainable, accessible, mixed-income, and mixed-use, and located close to transit, work, and public services. Affordability requirements of federal housing programs depend on who the program aims to support, and the housing affordability outcomes the program aims to achieve (e.g., programs to create deeply affordable housing for vulnerable Canadians have different requirements from programs aiming to increase rental housing supply). Similarly, the minimum duration of affordability varies by program. Proponents approved for funding must adhere to minimum requirements and are required to report to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) during the construction of their projects and throughout the affordability period to ensure they are respecting the terms of their agreements.  Supporting and growing community housing in Canada is a priority under the NHS. The $8.6 billion Canada Community Housing Initiative is helping to protect and build community-based housing for 330,000 households across the country and another 50,000 units created through an expansion of community housing. The Government of Canada is also providing $618.2 million over 10 years under the Federal Community Housing Initiative, which protects tenants and stabilizes the operations of more than 55,000 units in federally administered community housing projects, as well as 13,700 low-income households. Moreover, non-profits and co-ops are eligible to apply for funding under NHS supply initiatives. 

In Budget 2022, the Government of Canada committed to creating a new Co-operative Housing Development Program aimed at expanding co-op housing in Canada. In the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada made an investment of $309.3 million in new funding for this program bringing the total investment to $1.5 billion. The program is expected to be launched this year. Strong partnerships with municipalities, provinces, and territories are essential to increasing housing supply and implementing longer-term solutions for housing affordability. Local governments play an important role in creating the conditions to remove systemic barriers to housing supply in their jurisdiction. The $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is designed to drive transformational change within the sphere of control of the local government regarding land use planning and development approvals with the overall objective to accelerate housing supply. 

HAF has led to the largest upzoning movement in Canadian history, with 179 finalized agreements that have advanced ambitious housing reforms in big cities, small towns, rural communities, and Indigenous communities in every region of the country. Over the next three years, HAF will fast-track approvals for 107,000 additional homes and unlock over 750,000 homes over the next decade.

Real Estate Income Trusts are among various players in the rental market. CMHC actively monitors market conditions and works with federal partners to ensure appropriate macro-prudential policies are in place. The Government of Canada also takes seriously the negative impacts that private ownership of residential properties can have on rents and housing prices. In addition to the government’s initiatives on housing, the Government of Canada is investing nearly $4 billion over nine years to address homelessness through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. Reaching Home funding is provided directly to urban communities, Indigenous communities, distinctions-based Indigenous partners, rural and remote communities, and territories to help them address local homelessness needs. Communities can use Reaching Home funding to support projects and services that address local homelessness needs, including to address chronic homelessness. 

Since its launch in 2019, Reaching Home has resulted in over 71,395 people being placed in more stable housing and 124,655 people receiving homelessness prevention services through the funding of over 6,800 community projects across Canada. Between April 1, 2019, and September 7, 2023, Reaching Home funding supported more than 6,700 projects to assist people experiencing and at-risk of homelessness. Through these projects, 122,472 people received homelessness prevention support such as rental assistance and landlord/family mediation, and 69,846 people have been placed in more stable housing. 

Reaching Home provides crucial funding to support services in activity areas such as: Basic Needs Services, Emergency Housing Funding, and Prevention and Shelter Diversion. This funding can also support access to health and social services and improve overall wellbeing of those experiencing or at-risk of homelessness through the delivery of harm reduction activities and navigating access to clinical, health and treatment services (including mental health and addictions supports) through case management. 

Additionally, in 2023, Infrastructure Canada is working closely with Veterans Affairs Canada and CMHC to implement the Veteran Homelessness Program (VHP). It is estimated that there are more than 2,600 veterans experiencing homelessness in Canada. With $79.1 million over five years, from 2023-24 to 2027-28, the VHP will provide targeted rent supplements and wrap-around supports to Veterans experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. With an investment of $6.2 million, the program also supports research and capacity building projects for Veteran- and homeless-serving organizations.

Partnerships are critical to address the housing crisis and the rise in homelessness. Given the scale of the challenges, all orders of government, Indigenous peoples, the private and not-for-profit sectors need to increase their efforts, including by better working together in a coordinated way. The situation requires a multi-pronged approach whereby all actors will need to take on new actions to support the most vulnerable while work is also underway to bridge the broader housing supply and affordability gap.

In terms of regulating foreign investment in residential real estate, on January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act came into force preventing non-Canadians from buying residential property in Canada for 2 years (certain exceptions apply). On February 4, 2024, the Government of Canada announced a two-year extension of this ban to January 1, 2027.

The Government of Canada is working to ensure that everyone living in Canada has a safe and affordable place to call home by expanding Canada’s housing supply and continuing to advance our investments in affordable housing.