Question Period Note: Affordable and Non-Market Housing

What is the Government of Canada doing to build more affordable
housing?

• Helping Canadians access affordable and non-market housing is a key priority for this government.

• Building on the success of previous federal initiatives like the National Housing Strategy and Canada’s Housing Plan, this government will provide strong leadership to scale up affordable housing.

• Through Build Canada Homes, we will support affordable, non-market housing using modern and sustainable methods of construction, predictable and scalable financing solutions, and collaborative partnerships with all levels of government, Indigenous communities, and both the not-for-profit and private sectors.

• Non-market housing, or community housing, provides affordable homes with below-market rents that grow at a slower pace relative to the market (i.e., generally in line with operating costs, rather than market rental rates). Current supply of non-market housing is not enough to keep up with demand. Given the sector’s growth rate is less than half that of market housing, the share of non-market housing decreases each year.

• In 2021, 47% of renter households in Canada reported experiencing one or more of the following challenges: housing cost over 30% of their income, housing that was not suitable for the size of their household, or housing in need of repairs.

• Nearly half of non market housing was built before 1980, with 87% built prior to 1996.

• The sector is highly fragmented, with about half of the total units managed by several thousand small providers, each of which typically owns fewer than 100 units. The largest 40 providers, typically provincial housing corporations and larger municipalities, own and manage the other half of the stock.

• Much of the current non-market housing stock relies on ongoing support from all levels of government, through legacy operating agreements and rent subsidies. Current investments have preserved existing non-market housing and helped grow its stock, but not to the scale needed to help restore housing affordability. The Government of Canada’s investments in non-market housing include:

  • The Affordable Housing Fund, which is providing $14.6 billion over 11 years in long-term, low-cost repayable and forgivable loans to build new affordable housing and to repair and renew existing affordable and community housing;
  • The Co-operative Housing Development Program, which is providing $1.5 billion over seven years in low-cost repayable and forgivable loans to build a new generation of non-profit co-op housing;
  • The Federal Community Housing Initiative, a $618 million investment to help preserve 48,000 community housing units;
  • The Canada Community Housing Initiative ($4.3 billion in federal funding with an additional $4.3 billion cost-matched by provinces and territories) to preserve and expand community housing; and
  • The Canada Rental Protection Fund which is a $1.5 billion investment to help the community housing sector acquire rental apartment buildings and preserve affordability of rents over the long term.

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