Housing
Over the past years federal investments have helped to build affordable housing for seniors in our community, homes for people experiencing homelessness, and to keep our co-ops with extensions to their agreements. But we need to do more as housing affordability continues to be an issue in our city. There isn’t one simple solution, but Budget 2022 will put in place new measures towards housing affordability in our country, including:
The Housing Accelerator Fund: This fund creates supports for our cities to speed up housing development with a focus on increasing supply but ensuring it includes an increase in affordable housing. The target is to create 100,000 net new housing units over the next five years.
Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights: Working with the provinces and territories to develop and implement a bill of rights that will include a national plan to end blind bidding.
A Ban on Foreign Investment in Canadian Housing: Building on the tax that we have placed on foreign-owned vacant properties, we will prohibit foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from buying residential property in Canada for two years.
Making Property Flippers Pay Their Fair Share: Introducing rules so that any person who sells a property they held for less than 12 months will be subject to profits as business income, with exemptions for people who must sell their homes due to certain life circumstances.
Investing in Co-Operative Housing Development: We have many strong co-ops in our community. With this budget our government is making the largest investment in building new co-ops in more than 30 years, with an estimated 6,000 units to be constructed.
Tax-Free Home Savings Account: An account that would give prospective first-time home buyers the ability to save up to $40,000 with contributions and withdrawals to purchase a new home being non-taxable.