Ahmed Hussen

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I am really perplexed by the logic of the hon. member. She says that our national housing strategy is not really doing anything on the ground. Contrary to that, I can report back to the hon. member that we have invested in either repairing or building 500,000 units; this has supported almost two million Canadian households. That is the impact the national housing strategy has had on this country since we came into office.

In terms of the real estate investment trusts, we are taking the matter seriously. That is why we launched a federal review of the tax treatment of real estate investment trusts.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, our whole national housing strategy is geared towards helping non-profits and those who are dedicated to increasing affordable housing, as the member has spoken about. They can get help from the federal government so they can build more affordable housing units for Canadians.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, as I said, a number of factors lead to making housing more expensive and contribute to the challenges facing Canadians. One of them is financialization, but a second one is supply, and we are taking measures to deal with both.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I actually agree with the hon. member that co-op housing is a very good model for housing, because it is community owned and community managed. We know that co-op housing is a good model for affordable, community-owned and community-managed housing.

That is why we are investing $1.5 billion to build the first new co-op units in 30 years; we understand that we need a healthy mix of housing. We need community-owned housing and affordable housing units. Moreover, $1.5 billion to build new co-ops in partnership with such organizations as the Co-operative Housing Federation is the right way to go. That is why we put that significant amount of money in place to make sure that we continue to supply more affordable housing units through the co-op model.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I agree with the hon. member that the financialization of housing is an issue that we have to deal with. We are committed, as a government, to making sure that housing is more affordable. We are continuing to do our part in addressing and tackling the financialization of housing.

When it comes to rent control and what landlords do at the local level, of course, the provinces have a major role to play. However, on this side of the House, we believe that we also have a role to play. We know that a number of factors are making housing more expensive, but the biggest issue is supply. As highlighted by the recent data released by the CMHC, Canada is facing a supply shortage. We are doing what we can to tackle financialization, but we are also doing everything we can to tackle supply.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I agree with the hon. member that speculative investments in real estate are contributing to pushing housing prices higher. That is why we have legislated a number of measures that can deal with this, including an annual 1% tax on the value of vacant residential real estate that is not owned by Canadians or Canadian residents, as well as a two-year ban on foreign investment in Canadian residential properties. We have also committed to reviewing the tax treatment of real estate investment trusts and, through budget 2022, we announced the launch of a federal review of housing as an asset class.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, the federal government is determined to help Quebeckers find safe and affordable housing. Since 2015, we have invested more than $6.5 billion in Quebec to help more than 45,000 families and individuals secure the housing they needed.

The bilateral agreement between the governments of Canada and Quebec will result in a combined investment of an additional $3.7 billion over 10 years to improve housing conditions in Quebec. That is what federal leadership on housing looks like for Quebeckers. As part of our commitment to end chronic homelessness, we are providing more than $400 million to Quebec. As part of the rapid housing initiative, we are working with the Government of Quebec to invest $563 million to create 3,200 new housing units in the province. We have also announced $9.9 billion through the affordable housing innovation fund to help build or renovate 2,675 affordable housing units in Quebec.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, that is a very good question, and it points to the fundamental difference between this side of the House, our government, and the official opposition. The Conservatives do not believe that Canadians have a human right to a dignified place to call home, but we do, and the evidence is there: Whenever we bring investments to the floor of the House to invest in Canadians, they vote against them.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, that is absolutely correct. I found the mayor of Surrey, as well as the members of Parliament from the region of Surrey, to be very open to working with our government to meet the needs of all types of housing advocates in Surrey.

Surrey has benefited greatly from the rapid housing initiative. While I was there to announce the third round of the rapid housing initiative in Surrey, I was talking to the current mayor of Surrey about the housing accelerator fund and the opportunities the fund will provide for Surrey and other fast-growing regions and municipalities in Canada that are dealing with the pressures of a lack of enough supply for their fast-growing population. What I found in Surrey and in other parts of Canada is that mayors are welcoming the federal investments under the housing accelerator fund. They lack the capacity to do more. They want us to invest in their capacity to do more, and we will do exactly that, while incentivizing them to speed up their permitting and delivery of housing locally.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I really appreciate this question, because it gives me an opportunity to talk about the divisiveness of the leader of the official opposition in calling the mayors, the elected officials in this country, “woke”, and denigrating them and calling them “incompetent”.

We need to work with local governments, we need to work with mayors and we need to work with municipalities to increase housing supply, to build more affordable housing and to build more affordable rental units, and that kind of approach will not get one single affordable housing unit built. What it will do is alienate another level of government elected by Canadians to represent their interests.

On this side of the House, what we are doing is working with mayors, increasing their capacity to permit and deliver housing faster and enabling them to make the systemic changes that are necessary, through the housing accelerator fund investment, so that we can have more housing supply in Canada.