The federal government's housing plan is the most ambitious in Canadian history and will build nearly 4 million new homes. As part of this plan, the government is cracking down on large, corporate investors who buy up single-family homes, removing the GST from student residences to build more student housing, unlocking underused federal lands to build homes on, helping provinces and municipalities build homes faster, and delivering the boldest mortgage reforms in decades to unlock homeownership for every generation.
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, announced significant progress to deliver Canada's housing plan.
First, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance launched consultations to confront the financialization of housing, because Canadians purchasing a home should be bidding alongside other prospective homeowners, not against very large corporate investors. To make housing more affordable for Canadians, the federal government is seeking feedback from Canadians and stakeholders on ways to restrict the purchase and acquisition of existing single-family homes by very large corporate investors. All Canadians, as well as stakeholders including provinces, territories, and municipalities, are invited to provide comments on this consultation by December 19, 2024.
Second, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance launched consultations to remove the GST on the construction of new student residences, to incentivize Canada's educational institutions, including not-for-profit universities, public colleges, and school authorities, to build more student housing and ease rental housing pressures for students. Removing the GST from student residences builds on the removal of the GST from purpose-built rental housing, effective September 14, 2023. All Canadians, as well as stakeholders including educational institutions, are invited to provide feedback on the draft legislative and regulatory amendments by January 20, 2025.
Third, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance highlighted that starting November 21, 2024, more mortgage holders will be able to switch lenders at time of renewal, allowing them to shop around for the best rate. This is made possible by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions' (OSFI) removal of the mortgage stress test (also known as the minimum qualifying rate) at renewal for uninsured mortgage holders. Specifically, borrowers will now be able to straight switch from one federal lender to another, with no increases to the loan amount or remaining amortization timeframe. Already, insured mortgage holders can switch lenders at renewal without requalifying with the stress test.
Fourth, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant announced that an additional 12 underused federal properties have been identified as suitable for building new homes, including in Calgary, Ottawa, London, Laval, Dartmouth, and Whitehorse. With these additional federal properties added to the Canada Public Land Bank, a total of 83 federal properties have now been identified for housing development and are available to homebuilders as of today. This is part of the federal government's work to turn unused and underused federal properties into 250,000 new homes.
Fifth, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant highlighted yesterday's announcement of an additional $92 million for the Housing Accelerator Fund agreement with Quebec. This federal top-up will help meet the high demand from municipalities for the $1.8 billion in federal-provincial funding available through the initial agreement with Quebec, signed in November 2023.
