Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about the affordable housing aspect of the federal budget in Hamilton on Friday.
And a local MP says Hamilton will provide key insights into how part of that housing plan plays out.
Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland visited West Mountain residents to promote their party’s housing investments announced Thursday.
The visit comes a day after Freeland announced a budget that included a $10 billion investment in housing, much of it focused on increasing housing supply.
“Housing supply just hasn’t kept pace, so we need to build more housing for a growing country and we need to do it quickly,” Freeland said from a local backyard.
Trudeau said he made the announcement in Hamilton because “it’s a great example of a place that used to be known for a level of affordability that is now staggeringly out of reach.”
Housing affordability is a key focus for the Liberals in their 2022 federal budget, with promises of a two-year ban on some foreign buyers and billions of dollars to help first-time homebuyers get into the market. 2:22
Of the money allocated in the budget, $4 billion for a new “housing accelerator fund,” which will allow municipalities to cut red tape and speed up housing developments. The government estimates that this program will create 100,000 new units in the next five years.
Chad Collins, Liberal MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, says Hamilton officials dealing with planning and housing will appear in a parliamentary committee next month to explain the city’s needs.
“I’m very interested in this one because there are no parameters yet on how it will be invested,” said Collins, a former city councilman and former president of CityHousing Hamilton. There are suggestions.
“I want to see us get on that affordable housing waiting list. That’s about 6,000 households.” [in Hamilton] and tending in the wrong direction.
Not enough to fix Hamilton’s problems, says MP
Figures from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) show the average sale price for a residential property here in February was $1,104,163, a record.
Dan Muys, the Conservative MP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, says the Liberal budget doesn’t do enough to help with that.
“We need 110,000 homes in Hamilton, of all shapes and sizes, just to keep up with demand,” he said ahead of Trudeau’s visit to Hamilton.
Knocking on doors, “I heard it from her parents. ‘My daughter and her husband make over six figures and can’t even contemplate buying a house.'”
“The housing supply is the problem and this budget doesn’t address that… None of these things are enough.”
Indwell says budget will make a difference
Without significant change, he said, “this is not sustainable. Until we have more supply, we need to be working flat out.”
Graham Cubitt is director of projects and development at Indwell, one of the largest social housing providers in the area. He sees the budget as “good news for Hamilton.”
“There are many projects ready to start in Hamilton, and this will make a big difference,” he said.
“We have 150 units ready to go in the next 12 months. So for quick housing initiatives in particular, that’s going to be important. We have about 700 across Ontario that could probably be eligible for quick housing initiatives.”
Another 1,000 units in the pipeline would likely be eligible for co-investment funds mentioned in the budget, he said.
Mike Collins-Williams, executive director of the West End Home Builders Association, says home builders have called for all levels of government to work together.
“With measures in this budget, this leadership is being established,” he said.
“Municipalities hold the key to unlocking more supply, and with this federal support and incentive, [the association] He is hopeful that more municipalities like Hamilton and Burlington will move aggressively to help solve the housing supply shortage and ease the housing crisis.”
Reference-www.cbc.ca