moved:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) keep with Canada’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right to housing under the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; (b) support efforts by Canadian municipalities to combat homelessness; and (c) adopt measures to expand the stock of affordable rental housing, with a view to providing economic benefits to local housing construction businesses.
Mr. Speaker, nearly one-third of Canadian households and 40% of Quebec households rent their residences. Rental construction over the past 15 years has accounted for only 10% of all housing starts. Given that the loss of existing housing is greater than the construction of new housing, the rental housing stock in the private sector is eroding.
In the meantime, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimates that there will be 50,000 new rental households a year over the next decade.
Low supply places upward pressure on rents and makes it harder to find affordable housing. It is not complicated: expensive housing construction is outpacing affordable housing construction. In most of our municipalities, the trend is to build condominiums, luxury housing and, as a result, the people who—