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
• My department is committed to ensuring sound stewardship of our real property through the reduction of the office portfolio, and to delivering on the significant additional measures to unlock federal lands for housing announced in Budget 2024
• These measures include reviewing the federal portfolio and identifying underutilized public lands as well as acquiring new lands, launching a new public land bank and mapping tool, and enhancing legislation to facilitate leveraging public lands in support of housing and other community needs
• Public Services and Procurement Canada is accelerating and streamlining the disposal process to enable the redevelopment of surplus federal properties into housing. We are continuing to work with the Canada Lands Company and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to enable the construction of housing units
• Public Services and Procurement Canada, in close consultation with the Canada Lands Company and Infrastructure Canada, is working on the development of a Federal Land Acquisition Program using the $500 million committed in Budget 2024 to acquire land from other orders of government to help spur sustainable, mixed-market housing

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is the federal government’s administrator of real property and is responsible for approximately 6.9 million square meters of space across Canada. This includes the office portfolio, special purpose buildings, and other assets. About 6.2 million square meters is considered office space. PSPC 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.

In support of Budget 2024, PSPC is also:

• Launching the new Public Lands Acquisition Fund to purchase land from other orders of government to help spur sustainable, mixed-market housing
• The Program funds will be used to purchase parcels of municipal, provincial, or territorial land and lease them back to the same governments (or third parties) to support investment into social objectives as part of housing (re)development
• Continuing to collaborate with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), on the Federal Lands Initiative
• Collaborating with Infrastructure Canada on a new Public Land Bank and geo-spatial mapping tool
• Continuing to collaborate with CMHC and the Canada Lands Company (CLC), on the National Housing Strategy
• Scaling-up PSPC’s centre of expertise on disposals
• Continuing to work on the disposal process of its assets that are declared surplus and continue to assessed underutilized properties for housing development potential (including Canada Post properties)

CLC is a self-financing, federal, Crown corporation specialized in real estate development and attractions management. By the end of March 2024, CLC will have enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016. It is now on track to enable the construction of more than 29,200 new homes over the next five years and has a new minimum affordable housing target of 20 per cent across projects in its residential pipeline. Pending the approval of CLC’s corporate plan, the new affordability requirement would apply where a municipal minimum requirement for affordable housing is lower or does not already exist.

• As of March 2024, Canada Lands Company had enabled the construction of more than 13,000 new homes since 2016
• Canada Lands Company is on track to enable the construction of more than 29,200 new homes over the next five years
• Budget 2024 allocated $500 million over five years for PSPC to purchase parcels of municipal, provincial, or territorial land to support investment into social objectives as part of housing (re)development