Evidence of meeting #13 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cmhc.
A video is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
I'm not familiar with the two-time payment. I'd have to look into that part of your question. My apologies on that.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Okay. Thank you very much.
Perhaps I can go further on something a little bit different here. We've talked about the supply. I've looked at all of the numbers. Like Mr. Routledge, I did a bunch of analysis in my past career. However, I'm trying to see where the actual supply is falling short.
In my city, the supply of rental housing is actually significantly rising, and yet we're still subsidizing it. There's a 10% vacancy rate in rental housing, and yet we're still building more. We're transitioning office buildings into rental housing. The money is coming from somewhere, but are we building the wrong kind of housing? Are people actually not looking at buying these condominium-type houses downtown anymore? Should we be focusing on single-family homes again?
Superintendent, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
Mr. Chair, is that question for me?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
At CMHC we feel that all types of housing supply are good supply. We feel that condominium buildings are great, but so are detached homes for Canadians as well. We think it's very important for CMHC, as Canada's housing authority, to provide the market with better information about the type of housing Canadians need. We need to do a better job of—
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
That's the time, Mr. McLean. We're already well over five minutes, so we're moving to the Liberals now.
Liberal
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of our presenters for being with us today. I really appreciate your making the time and spending three hours with us.
My first set of questions is going to be for Ms. Bowers.
Ms. Bowers, for anybody who might be listening to the conversation about Generation Squeeze and the solutions lab, I know that as of December 31, 2020, there were over 47 Solution Labs projects funded by CMHC. Can you confirm that there were multiple projects funded by CMHC to find affordability solutions?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Ms. Dzerowicz, excuse the interruption, but your mike is not on. Could you fix that, please?
Liberal
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Mr. Chair, may I help here?
You go to the mute button down at the left bottom corner, click on the top barrel, and then—
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you.
I'm sorry. I will have to restart. I'm so sorry, you guys.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you.
So first thank you. My first set of questions are to Ms. Bowers.
Ms. Bowers, I want to confirm that multiple affordability solutions have been submitted by many groups and that Generation Squeeze is just one of many that have come into CMHC.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Yes. Forty-seven projects have been submitted. You can find them on our website.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
I want to make sure it's crystal clear that CMHC does not offer advice on tax policy to the federal government.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
That is correct.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Perfect. Thank you.
You mentioned that one reason we have had some issues with building more housing is just how long it's taking to get approvals at the municipal level, and also Nimbyism.
My understanding is that part of the reason we set up the $4 billion housing accelerator fund for the biggest cities was so that we could build an extra 100,000 middle-class homes by 2025. That's in addition to the numbers we already had. But it was to go to cities to help reduce those timelines, to deal with some of the zoning issues.
Can you confirm that is the case for this particular program?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
I want to highlight that this program is a program that has not been launched. It was part of, I believe, a party election platform. There was an intention to focus on that as part of the mandate letter for Minister Hussen who is the minister responsible for CMHC.
It is correct that the objective of this proposed program is to provide incentives at the local level to incent housing supply and to really provide municipalities, or provinces and territories for that matter, with incentives to unblock some of the barriers to housing supply and creation.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you for that clarification, Ms. Bowers.
I think we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, just because I think we're all anxious to try to get some more supply into the marketplace.
One of the other things I was curious about was the answer to Mr. Poilievre's question about where the money is coming from for people to be able to buy these houses. I know you mentioned bank loans and personal savings.
My understanding is that many believe there's a huge intergenerational transfer of funds happening right now between parents or grandparents and other family members to purchase housing.
Do you also think that is where some of the funding is coming from to buy some of the housing right now?