Promising $15B to build more apartments, Trudeau says it's 'not fair' many young people can't afford a place to live
Continuing his pre-budget spending pledge tour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a $15-billion top-up as well as reforms to "turbocharge" an existing federal apartment construction loan program.
Related to this loan offering, Trudeau says the federal government also plans to launch a new "Canada Builds" initiative to help build more rental housing across Canada.
Styled after the "BC Builds" program, the aim is to allow provinces and territories to access federal loans to "launch their own ambitious housing plans," including developing more low- and high-rise apartments that middle class Canadians can afford.
Similar to other new federal housing spending commitments, access will be dependent on meeting all of the program's criteria, as well as a series of additional benchmarks.
In order to tap into this funding, provinces and territories will have to commit to spending their own money on housing, plan to build on government and vacant lands, and cut development approval timelines to no longer than 12 to 18 months.
The aim, Trudeau said Wednesday, is to help make it so more people can live where they work, something Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said is a pressing challenge for her city as they try to hire more first responders, care workers and nurses.
However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford doubled down on Wednesday that his government won't be signing on to any federal funding deal that requires building more fourplexes.
"It's not up to the province to dictate where every single building is going to be," Ford told reporters in Vaughan on Wednesday. "I believe in letting municipalities determine what is good for their communities."
Amid pushback from Ford and other provinces to his strings-attached approach, the prime minister said Wednesday that while it would be "easier" to send the money province-wide, the federal Liberals are happy to work with specific municipalities if their provincial leadership isn't willing to play ball.
"It's not fair that young people who have a good job, can't afford a place to live, and can't even imagine being able to buy a home one day. That's what we're trying to change around," Trudeau said at the Toronto announcement.
The $15-billion loan top-up to what will now be a $55-billion fund providing low-cost financing to homebuilders will help finance the program's aim of constructing of more than 131,000 new apartments within the next decade.
The federal government also plans to reform the program with the intention of increasing access and making it easier for builders to get shovels in the ground.
This will include extending loan terms, widening financing access to include housing for students and seniors, and allowing builders to move ahead with multiple construction sites at once.
According to a release from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Liberals will also launch a new "frequent builder stream" to speed up application times for "proven home builders."
Since its launch in 2017, the government says this apartment construction loan program has allocated more than $18 billion to help build more than 48,000 new rental homes.
"It's not just low-cost financing to build a building that would otherwise be constructed. We get something in exchange for providing this low-cost financing," Housing Minister Sean Fraser said, speaking alongside Trudeau.
"Builders who use the apartment construction loan program commit to certain affordability requirements to ensure that a proportion of the units are actually accessible to people who are earning the median income in a given housing market."
Trudeau and his cabinet have been holding daily press conferences teasing out pieces of the upcoming 2024 federal budget, which will be tabled on April 16.
So far, the budget announcements have leaned into housing as a priority—specifically "building more homes, faster"— as the Liberals try to target younger voters.
According to the 2021 census, Canadians under the age of 26 are more likely to rent than own their homes, and spend more of their paycheque on shelter than older Canadians.
Ahead of Wednesday's press conference, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's office sent out a series of statistics about Canada's housing crisis, framing the ongoing budget press tour as "photo ops" that won't build more homes.
Among the metrics cited by the federal Conservatives was a new RBC housing affordability report that indicated median-income earning households would need to spend 63.5 per cent of their income to cover the costs of owning an average home.
In 2015, the same measure required 39.3 per cent of income.
"After eight years of Trudeau, the average price of a home in Toronto is now over a million dollars and the average rent on a two-bedroom apartment has more than doubled to over $3,200 a month," said Conservative MP and housing critic Scott Aitchison.
"Justin Trudeau’s response has been to re-announce a failed loan program which has only resulted in the completion of 11,000 homes over the course of seven years."
The federal NDP was also less than impressed.
"Trudeau's out-of-touch housing strategy is dominated by loans to for-profit developers that don't help Canadians who need homes they can afford. Today, the Liberals announced $15 billion for a program where 97 per cent of the units produced are not affordable," said NDP MP and housing critic Jenny Kwan.
In an interview on Tuesday touting that day's announcement — the launch of a new $6-billion "Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund" — Fraser conceded that "it may be the better part of a decade" before Canadians start seeing housing affordability return to levels comparable to those experienced by past generations.
With files from CTV News' Luca Caruso-Moro
IN DEPTH
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6922467.1718138898!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6850735.1713368648!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978649.1722015109!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Missing 3-year-old boy found dead in creek in Mississauga, Ont.: police
A three-year-old boy has been found dead a day after he went missing in a park in Mississauga, Ont., Peel police say.
Celine Dion delivers stirring comeback performance at Paris Olympics opening ceremony
Against the rainy Paris night sky, Celine Dion staged the comeback of her career with a powerful performance from the Eiffel Tower to open the Olympic Games.
Jasper wildfire: 'Several weeks' before residents can return, premier says
Premier Danielle Smith said Friday afternoon in Hinton while weather conditions are cooler, the Jasper fire is still considered out of control and that Jasper residents can expect to be away from their homes 'for several weeks.'
Irish museum pulls Sinead O'Connor waxwork after just one day due to backlash
An Irish museum will withdraw a waxwork of singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor just one day after installing it, following a backlash from her family and the public, it told CNN in a statement on Friday.
Winnipeg senior's account overdrawn for $146,000 water bill
A Winnipeg senior is getting soaked with a six-figure water bill.
FBI says Trump was indeed struck by bullet during assassination attempt
Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump's near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president's ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president's injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
Driver charged after flashing high beams at approaching police
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
Powerful cartel leader 'El Mayo' Zambada was lured onto airplane before arrest in U.S., AP source says
A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who eluded authorities for decades was duped into flying into the U.S., where he was arrested alongside a son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the matter.
Turpel-Lafond won't sue CBC over Cree heritage report that took 'heavy toll': lawyer
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
Local Spotlight
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978272.1721953528!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'She led it the whole way': 18-year-old B.C. woman leads hikers to safety in Jasper National Park
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
'There's mom and dad's house': New video appears to show destruction of Jasper neighbourhood
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
Sask. Second World War veteran, 103, receives France's highest national order
A Saskatchewan-born veteran of the Second World War was recently presented with France's highest national order.
Former First Nations chief voices Disney's first Ojibwe language Star Wars movie
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
Ottawa Humane Society reunites Montreal family with cat missing for 8 years
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
Waterloo, Ont. woman out thousands after car totalled in hit-and-run
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
'It looks scary, but they're harmless': Bees removed from Winnipeg street light
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
'Powerful symbol of the progress we have made': Land being returned to Manitoba Métis Federation
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Cape Breton moose hunting suspended for 3 years due to 'significant' drop in population
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.