What is in Budget 2022 for Housing?
Launching a New Housing Accelerator Fund
To make housing more affordable, more housing needs to be built. Building more housing will require investments, but it will also require changes to the systems preventing more housing from being built.
The federal government aims to incentivize the cities and towns that are stepping up to get more housing built while also ensuring that municipalities can get the support they need to modernize and build new homes.
This new fund will target 100,000 net new housing units over the next five years.
The Housing Accelerator Fund will have a flexible single application system and will still allow municipalities to access other related programs.
Rapidly Building New Affordable Housing
Additional affordable housing units are urgently needed, particularly for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. To ensure that more affordable housing can be built quickly, the government proposes extending the Rapid Housing Initiative for a third round.
Speeding Up Housing Construction and Repairs for Vulnerable Canadians
Over the last five years, the National Housing Co-Investment Fund has supported the construction and repair of 108,000 housing units for the most vulnerable Canadians. Projects like shelters, homes for seniors and persons with disabilities, and supportive housing account for 75 percent of units committed to so far, with demand for those units exceeding supply. To protect housing affordability tomorrow, the government is accelerating its investments today.
Taking lessons from the Rapid Housing Initiative, the National Housing Co-Investment Fund will be made more flexible and easier to access, including more generous contributions and faster approvals.
Using Infrastructure Funding to Encourage More Home Construction
Every year, the federal government provides significant amounts of funding to provinces, territories, and municipalities to help them deliver important public infrastructure projects. Yet, at the same time, there is not enough housing being built to keep up with the needs of Canadians.
A coordinated approach involving all levels of government is required to ensure public spending is working to build more of the homes Canadians need.
Together with the new Housing Accelerator Fund, this represents nearly $43 billion in new and existing federal funding over the next ten years that will be leveraged to encourage the construction of more homes for Canadians across the country.
Leveraging Transit Funding to Build More Homes
The pandemic has had an extraordinary impact on public transit ridership and the revenues that municipalities count on. As a result, on March 25, 2022, the government tabled a bill to authorize up to $750 million in 2021-22 to support municipalities as they address their public transit shortfalls.
To increase the impact of this investment, the proposed funding will be conditional on provincial and territorial governments committing to match the federal contribution and accelerate their work with their municipalities to build more homes for Canadians.
Building More Affordable and Energy Efficient Rental Units
The Rental Construction Financing Initiative (RCFI) incentivizes the construction of new rental housing by offering low-interest loans and mortgage insurance to those building more rental housing in areas where it is needed most.
Budget 2022 also announces that the RCFI will target having at least 40 percent of the units it supports provide rent equal to or lower than 80 percent of the average market rent in their local community. These new requirements and incentives under a more ambitious Rental Construction Financing Initiative will ensure that rental units built through this program are more affordable, that people can reduce pollution and save on energy bills, and that Canada continues to make progress toward meeting our climate projections.
A New Generation of Co-Operative Housing Development
For generations, co-ops have offered quality, affordable housing to Canadians while empowering their members through inclusion, personal development, and tenure security through their community-oriented housing model. Unfortunately, while co-ops are home to approximately a quarter of a million Canadians, not enough have been built in recent years.
With the most significant investment in building new co-op housing for more than 30 years, an estimated 6,000 units will be constructed.
Long-Term Supports to End Homelessness
Every Canadian should have a safe place to call home, but that still isn't a reality for many, including Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and veterans.
Through Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy, the federal government has committed more than $3 billion to address homelessness, including doubling annual funding for four years in response to the pandemic.
The government remains committed to ending chronic homelessness and is proposing significant additional investments that will help make continued progress towards that goal.
A Tax-Free First Home Savings Account
As home prices climb, so does the cost of a down payment. This represents a significant barrier for many looking to own a home—especially young people. To help Canadians save for their first home:
The government intends to work with financial institutions to ensure that a Tax-Free First Home Savings Account could be opened and contributed to in 2023.
It is estimated that the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account would provide $725 million in support over five years.
Doubling the First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit
The government recognizes that the significant closing costs associated with purchasing a home can be a hurdle for first-time home buyers. The First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit is intended to support Canadians buying their first home.
This measure would apply to homes purchased on or after January 1, 2022.
Supporting Rent-to-Own Projects
Many Canadians rent because they value the flexibility that comes with it. Others rent before they plan to buy their own home, but rising home prices are pushing down payments further out of reach for those working towards ownership. Rent-to-own arrangements can help alleviate that barrier by providing more time and support to renters on the path to homeownership and allowing them to live and grow in their homes.
This investment will allow Canadians to get on the path to homeownership earlier while also encouraging new housing supply that supports affordability for renters and prospective homeowners.
Examples of eligible projects, which must include safeguards and robust consumer protections, could include the repair and renewal of housing for rent-to-own purposes, innovative financing models, and programming that assists rent-to-own participants in preparing for homeownership.
To read the Budget 2022 speech or to review the budget documents, please visit: https://budget.gc.ca/
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