Mr. Chair, it is my pleasure to have the opportunity tonight to speak about one of our government's top priorities and that is building up our housing supply.
We have made this a priority because we believe that everyone deserves the dignity of a home.
Having more supply across the board is the best way to make homes affordable for all. Demand for types of homes has continued to surge across Canada. It is greatest in our large urban centres but we now see it even in small cities that surround them, cities such as the one I live in.
The result is that nurses, teachers, shopkeepers and office workers, the people who make our cities run, can no longer afford to live in the communities where they work. Some of the most affected are our most vulnerable neighbours. Some of the 1.7 million families do not have a home that they can afford or that meets their basic needs.
Unlike the Conservative Party opposite, we believe that the federal government must play an active role in getting more homes built. That is why our government's national housing strategy is laser-focused on supply and working with our partners, our municipalities, provincial partners and community partners.
The strategy is a 10-year, $82-billion plan to give more Canadians a place to call home. The strategy aims to eliminate chronic homelessness, reduce or eliminate housing need for 530,000 households, create 160,000 housing units, repair or renew more than 300,000 existing homes, protect 385,000 community housing units and expand Canada's community housing stock by 55,000 units.
These are ambitious goals but we will have heard from other colleagues speaking today that we are well on track to meeting them, despite the pandemic, despite the difficult economic conditions that have come since and knowing that we have to build partnerships to have a pathway to creating homes.
Today, I would like to use my time to talk about two of the main pillars of the national housing strategy that are driving this boost in the housing supply.
First of all, I would like to start with the $13.7-billion national housing co-investment fund, the largest program of its kind in Canada's history. The co-investment fund tackles supply challenges in two important ways.
It helps upgrade affordable housing that is aging or in disrepair. It also helps to build new housing close to public transportation, jobs, schools and other services that families depend on.
Because it is a co-investment fund, it supports projects that involve contributions from multiple partners and, in fact, as members of Parliament, we can help to facilitate those partnerships.
We all have responsibility to our communities for these successes to drive deep into our communities. It encourages all orders of government and community housing providers, indigenous governments and organizations in the private sector to work together to propose solutions that meet the needs of their communities.
Who is in a better position than the members of Parliament to champion programs like this?
This fund is true to the national housing strategy's focus on vulnerable populations. It includes specific targets to support survivors of violence, seniors, people from racialized communities and people with developmental disabilities.
Because it is grounded in partnership, we have also made changes to the funds since its launch, in response to feedback from the people who use it, people who sit at roundtables to create community solutions and then have the minister come to town to hear their needs, so that adjustments can be made.
That has happened in Guelph, I am pleased to say. Our minister has always supported our community as we develop solutions that are community based. We have adapted the program to respond to specific areas of housing need in different parts of Guelph and in different parts of Canada.
For example, some of the co-investment fund has been specifically carved out for projects that benefit indigenous people living in urban areas and in northern communities.
Some has been carved out for projects that benefit Black households and some has been reallocated to launch a new co-operative housing development program that is being co-designed with the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.
Since we have not had co-operative housing developed in Canada for so many decades, it is up to us to look for those opportunities to bring together boards of directors to create those housing solutions through the co-op investment fund.
Already, $6.93 billion in loans and contributions has been committed through the co-investment fund. It includes commitments for close to 29,000 new housing units and more than 123,000 repaired or renewed units across the country. Let me tell members about the partnership we are really excited about, through the co-investment fund. We are working with Habitat for Humanity to build more than 1,100 homes in communities across the country. We have had those meetings in my community, and I hope other members of Parliament are having similar meetings. Habitat for Humanity homes are energy-efficient, and one in every five homes is built to meet accessibility standards. They serve vulnerable populations, including single mothers and their children, indigenous peoples, Black families, recent immigrants, persons with disabilities, seniors and our veterans.
Next, I would like to talk about another major supply-oriented pillar of the national housing strategy, the rental construction financing initiative. This program is different from the co-investment fund in that it focuses on those who do not qualify for assisted housing but still cannot afford the escalating prices of market rents. It encourages a stable supply of rental housing for middle-class families in expensive housing markets. This includes many of the people who are essential workers and play an invaluable role in our communities. As with other programs, we have continued to adapt this initiative over time to leverage opportunities to deliver the most impact. For example, we plan to reallocate a portion of the fund to support co-operative housing projects, and some to help convert vacant commercial property into market-based rental housing. To date, more than $14.7 billion in loans has been committed through the rental construction financing initiative, to create more than 41,000 new homes. Projects funded through this program are making a difference for middle-class families in communities across the country.
Let me give members an example of a project that is doing all that and also advancing Canada's reconciliation goals, the Sen̓áḵw development by the Squamish Nation, which will create nearly 3,000 homes on traditional lands in Vancouver. This project is the largest first nation economic partnership, and the largest CMHC loan in Canadian history. It also aims to be the largest net-zero residential project in the country. It is all made possible through $1.4 billion in low-interest loans through the rental construction financing initiative.
I have provided a quick overview of the two pillars of the national housing strategy. It is clear that, through these programs, we are making progress.
I would like to ask this question of the minister. Could he please tell us a bit more about what we are doing to create more supply in our communities?
