Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a new $1.5 billion housing fund will help nonprofits acquire more rental housing and ensure affordability across Canada.
The new Canada Rental Protection Fund will be included in the next federal budget, which will be tabled on April 16.
The fund will provide $1 billion in loans and $470 million in donations to help nonprofits and other partners acquire affordable rental units.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference in Winnipeg that British Columbia’s existing Rental Protection Fund is a good “proof of concept” for the initiative.
“They realize that for every new affordable rental unit built in their state, four more are lost to investors, conversions, demolition, and rent increases.” Prime Minister Trudeau said.
“And this is happening in communities across the country.”
Thursday’s announcement is just the latest in a series of new housing measures announced by the Liberal government in campaign-style pre-budget visits across the country.
“We have and will continue to develop a series of policies to address Canada’s national housing crisis, and we will publish our plans ahead of the federal budget,” said Housing Minister Sean Fraser. It will reach its climax.”
Activists in the public housing and nonprofit sectors are calling for a system to help buy up affordable rental properties that could be sold to investors.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been in power since 2015, has questioned the extent to which his government is taking responsibility for a system that many people, especially young people, feel is burdensome, especially when it comes to housing. asked CBC’s Matt Galloway.
Prime Minister Trudeau said Wednesday that the Liberals will add another $15 billion to the apartment construction loan program, bringing the available funding to $55 billion.
The financing program was launched in 2017 and has helped build more than 48,000 homes to date. The goal is to build at least 131,000 apartments over the next 10 years.
On Tuesday, the federal government announced a $6 billion infrastructure fund to support housing construction and a $400 million addition to the housing promotion fund.
The Liberal Party says funding for provinces and territories will be subject to conditions such as adopting the recently announced Tenant Bill of Rights and allowing municipalities to build fourplexes on residential land.
The premiers of several provinces, including Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, accused the federal government of overstepping their provinces’ jurisdiction.
