Question Period Note: Conversion of federal properties to housing

On November 7, 2023, the Government of Canada announced that 6 surplus federal properties will be developed into more than 2,800 new homes in Calgary, Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta and St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ottawa, Ontario.

• The Government of Canada is redoubling efforts in the face of Canada's housing crisis on several fronts and doing everything it can to create more housing and make more housing affordable for Canadians from coast to coast to coast
  • Public Services and Procurement Canada is accelerating and streamlining the process of converting surplus federal properties into housing, and we are continuing to work with Canada Lands Company to enable the construction of housing units
  • My department is committed to ensuring sound stewardship of our real property portfolio, including the identification of surplus and underutilized properties to enable housing outcomes

Public Services and Procurement is the federal government’s administrator of real property and is responsible for approximately 6.9 million square meters (m²) of space across Canada. This includes the office portfolio, special purpose buildings, and assets for the Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch. About 6.2 million square meters is considered office space. Public Services and Procurement Canada is working to right-size, modernize and green the federal office portfolio, which will result in the disposal of assets that are no longer required.

Canada Lands Company is a self-financing, federal Crown corporation specialized in real estate development and attractions management. Canada Lands Company will have enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016. Canada Lands Company is now on track to enable the construction of more than 29,200 new homes over the next five years. Canada Lands Company has a new minimum affordable housing target of 20 per cent across projects in its residential pipeline. The new affordability requirement would apply where a municipal minimum requirement for affordable housing is lower or does not already exist.

• By March 2024, Canada Lands Company—a Crown corporation that will have enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016—will help deliver the following surplus federal properties to build more homes for Canadians:
  • Calgary: 516 homes at Currie
  • Edmonton: 711 homes, at the Village at Griesbach, including 93 affordable homes
  • St. John’s: 34 homes at Pleasantville
  • Ottawa: 307 homes at Wateridge Village, 600 homes at Carling Avenue, and 710 homes on Booth Street, including 221 affordable homes