Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee. Thank you very much for having me today and giving the City of Montréal the opportunity to take part in this discussion as part of your study on the housing accelerator fund.
First, the City of Montréal wants to acknowledge the housing investments announced by the Government of Canada in its latest budget, as well as all the investments in recent years through the national housing strategy. We recognize the importance of housing and the existence of a real crisis in housing. The Government of Canada deserves credit for these investments, which will clearly help to achieve concrete results. We therefore applaud the desire to create the housing accelerator fund, a measure that adds to other recent federal initiatives.
Before discussing our expectations for this new fund, I'd like to take a few moments to present the projects under way in Montreal. In Montreal, we've had record years in terms of building construction and the addition of units, and we've seen a real estate boom in recent years. Despite everything, we're seeing an explosion in property and rent prices. In Montreal, we're getting close to an overheated market. The problem is in part due to the basic supply, but to adequately address the current housing crisis, targeted action must be taken now in the area of off-market social and affordable housing construction.
The City of Montréal has shown that it can quickly adopt the tools needed to do so, and one of the solutions it has already put in place is an inclusion strategy, which recently evolved into a by-law for a diverse metropolis. That by-law sets out the terms for inclusion of affordable social and family housing in private residential projects.
Over the last year, a right of first refusal has been added for social housing and housing in general, which has allowed the city to act in terms of property by acquiring lands and buildings. These tools are at the heart of an ambitious strategy, with the city's partners, of accelerating the preservation and construction of 60,000 affordable housing units over the next 10 years, not to mention the construction of 2,000 social housing units per year. In terms of acceleration, the city did not wait to act, because it has needs. We set ambitious targets, and the city developed mechanisms for achieving them and enhancing its tool box.
The metropolis of Quebec also has private and community partners who have projects ready to launch but who cannot do so due to inadequate funding. With our local partners, the city needs help from the various levels of government in relation to four elements.
First, stable, predictable and recurring funding must be disbursed quickly and directly to cities to fund affordable off-market projects. Financial resources must be focused on the construction of housing.
Second, flexibility is needed in the use of the funds, because the city knows the needs, knows how to propose solutions, knows local actors and is trying to work with them. As we saw with the rapid housing initiative, it worked well.
Third, a coordinated and efficient approach is needed, because the increased number of programs, terms and criteria hinder the acceleration of the completion of projects. Federal programs must be consistent and must actually meet local needs, not to mention that they must absolutely align with provincial and municipal programs.
Fourth, an approach is needed that takes into consideration the unique features and challenges of large urban centres, to make it possible to limit urban sprawl, to increase the density of land in a smart way, to innovate and to optimize the use of existing infrastructure.
The City of Montréal reiterates that municipalities are best suited to find opportunities and meet local needs. We have the flexibility needed to take action, and we can create partnerships with the private sector and communities to accelerate development. We have proven this, and we continue to want to prove it with the necessary financial support.
I also note that the problem of acceleration is not really linked to municipal by-law barriers like zoning or the issuing of permits. The problem is related more to the exponential increase in land value, the increase in construction costs, the labour shortage and the cost of construction materials. In short, the cost of development is increasing, and is hindering affordable and social housing projects. In this respect, the housing accelerator fund is a unique opportunity for the federal government to concretely and quickly support cities, which are on the front lines fighting the housing crisis.
We therefore invite you to continue working with large cities in Canada and to accelerate the preservation and construction of affordable and social housing.
I'll conclude by very briefly noting the federal lands initiative. Access to surplus public buildings is certainly useful.