Protecting and expanding affordable housing

WINNIPEG, MB, April 4, 2024 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, your hard work isn't paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque doesn't go as far as costs go up, and saving enough seems harder and harder. It doesn't have to be this way. Every generation should get a fair chance to get ahead.

One of the biggest pressures on people right now is housing, especially for young Canadians and low- and middle-income families who rent. In the last decade, hundreds of thousands of affordable homes have been lost in Canada ? some demolished and not replaced, others sold to speculators and large corporations. With skyrocketing rents, renovictions, a lack of housing options, and tenants being priced out of their communities, for renters, it feels like the deck is stacked against them.

We've taken bold action to build more homes, faster, improve access to housing, and make homes more affordable ? and we need to do more.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the launch of a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to protect affordable housing and create thousands of new affordable apartments.

A key measure in the upcoming Budget 2024, the Fund will provide $1 billion in loans and $470 million in contributions to non-profit organizations and other partners so they can acquire units and preserve rent prices in the long term. Co-led and co-funded by the federal government and other partners, the Fund will mobilize investments and financing from the charitable sector and the private sector to protect and grow affordable housing in Canada.

These loans will help preserve more rental homes and make sure they're affordable ? and they will protect the most vulnerable renters. That means if an affordable rental building goes up for sale, instead of that apartment being sold to a speculator or profiteer, it can go to non-profit organizations, community housing providers, and the middle class. It will mean Canadians can live in the communities they love, with rent prices they can afford. This program will be available later this year, and it will have a direct impact in making the housing market fairer for renters.

This is just one of the things that we are going to be doing in Budget 2024 to cut red tape, build more homes, and grow our communities. This week, we announced a $15 billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, and a $400 million top-up to the Housing Accelerator Fund. That's hundreds of thousands of new homes fast-tracked. Alongside these measures, we're getting healthy food on the plates of kids, investing in health care, making life more affordable, and creating good jobs to make sure every generation can get ahead.

"We're making the playing field fairer for renters. Through Budget 2024, we're working with non-profits to protect affordable housing, preserve rent prices, and build thousands of new apartments. It's simple ? you should be able to live in the community you love, with a rent you can afford."

? The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

"Affordable housing providers are doing important work to help keep rents affordable and stable for thousands of Canadians. But market pressures are putting affordable apartments at risk. So, we're launching a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to preserve and grow our affordable housing supply, helping more Canadians save on rent."

? The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

"We need to make sure affordable housing stays affordable in Canada. The Canada Rental Protection Fund is going to help protect the affordable housing we have so Canadians can live in the communities they love."

? The Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

• The Government of Canada's Budget 2024 will be tabled in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
• In recent days, the Prime Minister announced new action in advance of Budget 2024 to ensure fairness for every generation. Budget 2024 will:
• Restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters' rights and unlock pathways for them to become homeowners. Learn more.
• Save more young families money and help more moms return to their careers by building more affordable child care spaces and training more early childhood educators across Canada. Learn more.
• Create a National School Food Program to provide meals to about 400,000 kids every year and help ensure every child has the best start in life, no matter their circumstances. Learn more.
• Launch a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction or upgrade of essential infrastructure across the country and get more homes built for Canadians. Learn more.
• Top-up the Apartment Construction Loan Program with $15 billion, make new reforms so it is easier to access, and launch Canada Builds to call on all provinces and territories to join a Team Canada effort to build more homes, faster. Learn more.
• The new Canada Rental Protection Fund builds on other initiatives we have implemented to help maintain a resilient community housing sector and deliver below-market housing options in Canada, including:
• The Affordable Housing Fund, a $14+ billion initiative that supports the creation of affordable rental housing and the repair and renewal of existing housing. It is designed to attract partnerships and investments to develop projects that meet a broad spectrum of housing needs, from shelters to mixed-income and mixed-use rentals. As of December 31, 2023, the Fund has committed $8+ billion to repair or renew over 150,000 homes and support the construction of more than 32,000 new homes.
• The Rapid Housing Initiative, a $4 billion fund that is fast-tracking the construction of 15,500 new affordable homes for people experiencing homelessness or in severe housing need by 2026. The Rapid Housing Initiative also supports the acquisition of existing buildings for the purpose of rehabilitation or conversion to permanent affordable housing units, focusing on the housing needs of the most vulnerable, including people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, women fleeing domestic violence, seniors, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities.
• The Federal Community Housing Initiative, a $600+ million initiative that provides funding to federally administered community housing providers to stabilize their operations, subsidize rents for tenants in need, and maintain the current federally administered community housing stock, which includes 55,000 households.

• Canada's economic plan is to build more homes faster and to make housing more affordable. This plan also includes:
• The Apartment Construction Loan Program, a $40 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $15 billion in Budget 2024 to boost the construction of new rental homes by providing low-cost financing to homebuilders. Since 2017, the Apartment Construction Loan Program has committed over $18 billion in loans to support the creation of more than 48,000 new rental homes. With yesterday's announcement, the Apartment Construction Loan Program is now on track to help build over 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2031-32.
• The Housing Accelerator Fund, a $4 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $400 million in Budget 2024 to encourage municipalities to incentivize building by making transformative changes, such as removing prohibitive zoning barriers. To date, the federal government has signed 179 Housing Accelerator Fund agreements which, combined, will fast-track an estimated total of over 750,000 housing units across the country over the next decade.
• Progress on these and other programs and initiatives under Canada's National Housing Strategy are updated quarterly at?www.placetocallhome.ca. The Housing Funding Initiatives Map?shows affordable housing projects that have been developed.
• Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office