As the time to head to the voting booths approaches rapidly, the policy platforms and plans are being released for each party. As housing and affordability are primary concerns this election cycle, the NDP released their plan for how they will tackle housing if they are elected.
The NDP’s focus is making housing more affordable for families. They want to tackle the issues with big money in the housing market and build more affordable houses across ten years so that families can finally put roots down in Canada. This is quite a different strategy from the Liberal and Conservative plans and some are critical that the NDP are neglecting those who already have equity in their own homes.
Jagmeet Singh claimed that under Trudeau’s leadership, rents have skyrocketed while housing prices ballooned by more than 20% in less than a year in cities like Vancouver. “Young people and their parents worry they will never be able to afford to own a decent home,” he said. “They can barely afford to pay rent, let alone compete against big money investors.” By tackling big money, Singh and the NDP believe they will be able to make the dream of owning a decent home a reality for many Canadian families.
Getting Big Money Out of The Housing Market
The NDP plans to go after big money and investors in the Canadian housing market by putting a 20% foreign buyers’ tax on the sale of homes to individuals who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. This will also help target money laundering and organized crime that hides in the housing market by making it harder to hide behind companies as well as beefing up regulators and giving them more tools to fight back on corruption.
Increasing Affordable Housing Supply
The NDP pledges to build 500,000 affordable homes over the next two years with the additional promise of having the first done in the first five years. By utilizing effective measures to work in partnership with both provincial and municipal governments, the NDP wants to build capacity across Canada for social, community and affordable housing providers as well as providing rental support for co-ops and meet environmental goals in housing. As well as creating more affordable housing, this plan will create thousands of jobs across Canada, assisting in the economic recovery post-Covid, according to the NDP.
To assist many social, non-profit and co-op housing projects, the NDP pledges to set up a fast-start fund to streamline the application process and help many of these projects get started. Combined with flipping unused and under-used properties across Canada, the NDP plan to create vibrant and new communities for families.
Re-Introducing the CMHC Insured 30-Year Mortgages
By re-introducing the 30-year term mortgages to CMHC insured mortgages for entry-level homes for first-time home buyers, the NDP believes that this will allow many young Canadian families to enter the property market. With a longer term, the monthly payments will be lower and more affordable. Additionally, the NDP pledges to double the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to $1,500 to assist in closing costs.
While ambitious, this plan is attractive to many Canadians who have been searching for alternative ways to enter the property market in Canada. Many younger buyers and young families who are struggling to enter the market will finally have a chance with this new plan. Additionally, the focus in housing projects is something that we find interesting and hope that co-ownership will be recognised and continue to grow and develop supported by bold changes in the current market.