The TRUE Housing Solution
Housing has become out of reach for many Canadians, in particular for young families living in big cities. Vancouver and Toronto are two of the most unaffordable large cities in the world.
Over the past decades, the federal government has spent billions of dollars and created various bureaucratic programs to presumably make housing more affordable, with no results. Among other things, it has manipulated the financial criteria to qualify for mortgages and mortgage insurance, provided tax breaks to first buyers, and funded social housing.
The fundamental problem however is the mismatch between supply of and demand for housing that Ottawa, the provinces and municipalities are making worse with other policies, in particular mass immigration and zoning restrictions.
A People's Party government will:
Impose a moratorium on new permanent residents for as many years as necessary until the housing crisis has cooled down, the negative economic impact of mass immigration has been neutralized, and the process of social and cultural disintegration due to mass immigration has been reversed; thereafter, substantially lower the number of permanent residents Canada accepts every year to between 100,000 and 150,000, depending on economic and other circumstances (see policy on Immigration).
Modify the Bank of Canada’s inflation target, from 2% to 0%. This will cool down inflation in all sectors, including housing.
Respect local governments' responsibilities in housing. They should not be subjected to federal financial pressure to “densify” old neighbourhoods of detached homes in order to accommodate mass immigration policies.
Privatize or dismantle the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a mammoth government agency that fuels the housing crisis instead of helping to cool it down. All it has ever done is encourage Canadians to buy houses they can’t afford, and accumulate massive amounts of debt that the federal government, and ultimately Canadian taxpayers, will be responsible for.
Work with provinces to curb speculation and money laundering by foreign non-resident buyers in Canada’s land and housing markets.
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