Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I'm Janice Myers, CEO of the Canadian Real Estate Association, which represents more than 160,000 realtors from coast to coast to coast, offering a unified voice for homeowners in every riding across this country.
For everyday Canadians, climate change isn't a percentage point or a bar graph. It is a devastating and increasingly common extreme weather event with real consequences. I'm appearing here not only in my professional capacity but also as someone who has lived experience.
From 2000 to 2014, our family lived in Kelowna, British Columbia. During that time, two major wildfires saw us welcome evacuees into our home. We experienced neighbourhood evacuation alerts on three occasions, when we packed up our most precious belongings and stayed on alert, ready to flee. We watched helplessly from across Okanagan Lake as a fire raged down the mountain towards a home we had recently purchased and were to move into later on that month.
We've seen hailstorms in Calgary leave scars visible from space, and hurricanes redraw Atlantic Canada's coastlines, reaching so deeply into Quebec that they are fundamentally expanding our national risk map. In the west and across the Prairies, wildfires are no longer just seasonal threats. They are market disruptions that delay transactions, spike premiums and leave homebuyers and sellers financially frozen.
These impacts reach beyond property lines with smoke so thick that it covers Manitoba to Montreal, creating unsafe farm conditions and pushing local urban air quality to the worst in the world. Nationally, for every dollar covered by private insurance, the taxpayer is on the hook for three more in disaster relief and infrastructure repair.
As trusted advisers, realtors provide a unique window into the real-time intersection of climate risk and housing affordability, helping to illustrate how national trends affect housing budgets. One of our members told us about a buyer on Vancouver Island who almost lost out when an astronomical insurance quote threatened to kill their deal. Along the eastern coast, homeowners are facing 30% increases to maintain simple, basic seismic coverage, and earthquake insurance is often a coastal strata's largest expense. Realtors report a rising number of homeowners in high-risk flood and wildfire zones facing unexpected challenges in obtaining affordable coverage, even if their specific property was never affected. We've heard that force majeure clauses are now common, triggering delays of up to 60 days during extreme weather events and causing a domino effect on multiple families due to costs they can neither predict nor control.
It's estimated that, by 2030, 750,000 new homes could be built in high-risk flood and fire zones, pricing this new class of climate-vulnerable Canadians out of their own communities.
Mr. Chair, I sit before you this afternoon because this committee recognizes that climate risk is as much about people as it is about property, directly impacting safety, health and stability for Canadians. As realtors, our members are people experts, offering insights into the impact on Canadians and advice on where federal leadership can help families get ahead.
Canada must launch a national flood insurance program to provide a safety net for those in high-risk areas being denied coverage. Governments must also consider extending such a program to high-risk wildfire areas given their increased cost and severity. However, reliable safety nets depend on accessible hazard mapping, ensuring accurate risk assessment and an understanding of national exposure.
Beyond insurance, we need policies that empower homeowners to protect themselves. Resilience can and should be a shared investment. By offering tax incentives for resilient new builds, or consumer rebates for safety upgrades to older homes like metal roofs or back-flow valves, the government can help ensure that today's homes don't become tomorrow's disaster recovery efforts.
At CREA, we believe in opening doors to thriving futures for all, and that begins with a home that is affordable, safe and durable. Realtors are committed to being part of the solution, which is why CREA launched an optional certified green designation last year, which equips our members with expertise to help homeowners navigate the practical benefits of climate mitigation and secure their property.
We know that every dollar invested in adaptation today can save up to 15 in future recovery costs, and we understand the risk. Now we need continued federal resolve to invest in building resilience.
Thank you.