Politics
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a $15-billion top-up to the federal government’s Apartment Construction Loan Program and says the government plans to leverage the soon-to-be $55-billion program to encourage provincial and territorial partnerships to boost the number of rental units across Canada.
Loan program top-up is the latest pre-budget announcement by Liberal government
Brennan MacDonald · CBC News
· Posted: Apr 03, 2024 11:01 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference in an under-construction condo tower in midtown Toronto, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a $15-billion top-up to the federal government’s Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP) and says the government plans to leverage the soon-to-be $55-billion program to encourage provincial and territorial partnerships to boost the number of rental units across Canada.
Trudeau’s “Canada Builds” announcement is the latest in a string of campaign-style announcements that are expected to continue until Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables Budget 2024 on April 16.
“Canada Builds is going to turbo-charge affordable apartment construction in partnership with provinces and territories,” Trudeau said Wednesday at a news conference in Toronto. “It will provide low-cost loans, help speed up development and build projects of the scale necessary to meet the urgent needs of Canadians.
“We’re going to make the entire pot of funding available for matching partnerships and territories that come to the table with ambitious and fair housing plans.”
If provinces and territories want to access the federal financing, they will need to meet benchmarks set by a recent federal-B.C. partnership to build thousands of rental units.
Those benchmarks include committing to building on government, non-profit, community-owned and vacant lands and streamlining processes to cut development approval timelines to no longer than 12 to 18 months.
“Going forward, we’re going to be seeking to enter bilateral deals to meet the local priorities of provincial governments who agree to match us in the same manner that the Government of British Columbia did,” said Housing Minister Sean Fraser.
Asked Wednesday about provinces that have resisted partnering with the federal government on other housing initiatives, Trudeau said his government is prepared to continue bypassing provincial governments.
“Ideally, we’d work with all provinces if they’re sufficiently ambitious on housing. We’re there to be partners with them,” he said. “If a province decides it doesn’t want to be ambitious on housing, that’s their decision. We will work with the municipalities within that province that are ambitious.”
The new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund the Liberal government unveiled Tuesday includes $5 billion set aside for provinces and territories which agree to make certain commitments. If agreements can’t be reached with provinces and territories, the federal money will flow directly to municipalities instead.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, alongside Housing Minister Sean Fraser (back right) and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow (right), tours an under-construction condo tower in midtown Toronto, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who was present and spoke at Wednesday’s announcement, said the new Canada Builds initiative could lead to the construction of 17,000 new rental units in the city, housing 30,000 people.
“We have the sites … We have the ambition. We have a strong partnership with the federal government and together we can get housing in Toronto back on track,” said Chow.
The $15-billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program follows another $15-billion top-up announced in the federal government’s fall economic statement. With the new cash infusion, the program now aims to finance the construction of over 131,000 new rental units across Canada by 2031-32.
The government says that since its launch in 2017, ACLP has committed over $18 billion in loans to support the construction of more than 48,000 new rental units.
The federal government also intends to reform eligibility requirements for the ACLP by extending loan terms, extending access to financing to include housing for seniors, and including a portfolio approach to eligibility requirements, allowing builders to move forward on multiple sites at the same time.
In order for home builders to access the federal financing in the ACLP, proposed projects must have at least five rental units, have a loan size of at least $1 million and respond to a need for rental supply in the housing market.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which administers the ACLP loans, says that in many cases — in order to qualify — 20 per cent of a proposed project’s units must have rents below 30 per cent of the median total income for all families for the area, and the total residential rental income must be at least 10 per cent below its gross achievable residential income.
What issues would you want to see addressed in the next federal budget? Let us know in an email to ask@cbc.ca. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brennan MacDonald is a producer for CBC’s national television program Power & Politics and a writer for CBC’s Parliament Hill bureau.
