Your guide to Federal Housing Policies.

The Federal elections are coming up fast with polls closing on the 20th of September. Housing policies have been a key factor in this year’s election and with how crazy the market has been this past year, we can definitely understand why! 

Sifting through manifestos takes time and so we have broken down the parties’ housing platforms so you can be well equipped to make your decision in the voting booth. 

The Conservative Party

• Focus on increasing the supply of housing by incentivizing the private sector to build housing. 
• Switch 15% of federally owned real estate to housing and explore the idea of converting unused office space to housing.
• Build a million homes in the next three years.
• Encourage Canadians to invest in rental housing by extending the ability to defer capital gains tax when selling a rental property and reinvesting in rental housing. 
• Require municipalities that receive federal funding for public transit to allow more homes to be built near that transit.
• Propose to relax the stress test to make it easier for more Canadians to qualify for a mortgage. 
• Stop foreign investors who don’t live in or aren’t moving to Canada from owning homes for two years, and will instead encourage foreign investment in rental housing.
• Propose seven to ten-year mortgage terms to reduce mortgage payments. 

The NDP

• Propose to spend $14 billion on half a million affordable housing units over the next ten years. 
• Set up a dedicated fast-start fund to encourage the construction of co-ops, social and non-profit housing.
• Waive the federal portion of the GST/HST on the construction of new affordable rental units.
• Place a 20 percent Foreign Buyer tax on the sale of homes to individuals who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
• Double the home buyers’ tax credit and help people to borrow more by increasing amortization from 25 to 30 years. 
• Tighten the rules surrounding CMHC loans to stop developers from purchasing buildings and evicting tenants for renovations. 
• Offer a $5000 annual rent subsidy for families. 

The Green Party

• Invest in the construction of 50,000 supportive housing units over the next decade. 
• Build and acquire at least 300,000 units of co-operative and non-profit housing over a decade. 
• Re-focus the CMHC’s core mandate to be on the development of affordable, non-market and cooperative housing. 
• Create national standards to establish rent controls and put a suspension on evictions until the pandemic is over. 
• Raise the empty home tax on vacant buildings with foreign owners. 

The Liberal Party

• Promises to “build, preserve or repair” 1.4 million homes in four years by converting empty office space into housing and allocate $2.7 billion more funding for affordable housing. 
• Introduce a Home Buyers Bill of Rights which includes a ban on “blind bidding” meaning that prospective buyers will no longer submit their bid without knowing the bids already made leading to bids way over the asking price. 
• Introduce a tax-free First Home Savings Account for Canadians under 40 to save up to $40,000 towards their first home, and be able to withdraw it tax-free.
• Double the first-time buyer’s tax credit from $5000 to $10,000
• Reduce the cost of CMHC home insurance by 25%. 
• Proposed a complete ban on new foreign ownership of Canadian houses for the next two years. 
• Promise to expand on the tax for foreign-owned vacant housing to include vacant land within urban areas. 
• Establish an anti-flipping tax on residential properties, requiring properties to be held for at least 12 months.
• Pledge to invest $1 billion in grants and loans to develop rent-to-own projects where renters can work toward homeownership.
• Plan to make it easier for renters to get on the property ladder by introducing a new rent-to-own program.

No matter the election results, our expert team of mortgage brokers is here to help guide you through the process of getting your mortgage financing approved.