Finance committee  At this point, it would very much be collaboration between the three levels of government to recognize and acknowledge that it is a huge problem and truly address the zoning regulatory and red tape issues that are moving forward. As well, in certain instances in Canada right now,

Finance committee  Yes, it certainly is. There's no question about it. There are some Canadian cities that are starting to do a good job on this and have identified this as an issue and so—

Finance committee  Saskatoon, for example, is doing a very good job right now in moving things forward, and others are trying to follow suit.

Finance committee  I think at this stage we'd have to say it's becoming very hard to become a homebuyer. There are lots of mortgage rule changes and certainly in some places like Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, Saskatchewan and Alberta, they are facing other economic challenges. Normally, in thos

Finance committee  We've got a lot of supply-side issues. Definitely in our largest urban centres it's very difficult to bring new residential construction online. There are lots of delays, red tape and development taxes that are affecting affordability. There are a lot of factors affecting things

Finance committee  There's a little bit starting in Ontario. There's not a heck of a lot going on in B.C., although there is a new joint panel trying to work on that, so we shall see.

Finance committee  Yes, although usually when they're talking about a housing crisis, it's more around homelessness and low-income housing. Obviously it's a concern when there's not enough shelter for people in need. By the same token, the problem we have right now is that the whole housing contin

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you know, CHBA is the voice of Canada's residential construction industry—new construction, renovation and land development. With over 9,000 member firms across the country, we represent an industry that is the source of 1.2 million jobs and 160 billion

Finance committee  Absolutely. Development taxes are a huge part of why housing is so expensive. Regulation and red tape slow things down, further adding to those costs. Regulation, red tape and zoning restrictions that have resulted in a lack of supply are probably the biggest thing that's driven

Finance committee  I think there was so much going on—and no question, there was a lot of froth in Toronto and Vancouver. The problem now is there were so many changes occurring so fast that one didn't have a chance to play out before the next. What we've seen with the stress test is that it turns

Finance committee  Yes, it's a combination of B-20 and since then interest rates of risen, knocking out still more with B-20 and the interest rates combined.

Finance committee  Yes, we did a national survey, and of the 300 companies that responded, two-thirds of them said that they had already laid off....

Finance committee  We don't have those stats.

Finance committee  We were in discussions with CMHC about a shared equity mortgage program, but not applied in this nature. It was more of a hand-up program for people in need of core housing, not something for a typical person in the entry-level market or a family that would normally only need bas

Finance committee  We don't have those details. We made our recommendations for a different type of program. Our recommendation with respect to typical first-time homebuyers would be 30-year insured mortgages, adjustments to the stress test, that sort of thing.