(Halifax) Housing and affordability will be at the top of the agenda for federal ministers meeting in Halifax in the coming days ahead of the return of Parliament.
The meeting begins Sunday evening with a working dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
On Monday, ministers will hear from experts, academics and advisors on housing, immigration and middle-class economic challenges. Guests include Canadian Home Builders’ Association CEO Kevin Lee, former Canadian Labour Congress president and now senator Hassan Yussuff, and former YMCA Canada CEO Maya Roy.
They will focus Tuesday on Canada-U.S. relations that could be affected by the results of the November presidential election. They will hear from Canada’s current ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, and two of her predecessors, Frank McKenna and David MacNaughton.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and his colleague from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, will kick things off by announcing the government’s intentions to lease public land to developers to build affordable housing on Sunday afternoon.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement
The measure is one element of the government’s programme to build more than 3.8 million homes over the next seven years.
With the next election campaign likely to take place next year, this meeting may be the government’s last chance to gain new momentum with voters.
A year ago, at a similar meeting in Charlottetown, ministers focused primarily on housing because of rapidly rising prices and declining affordability due to high immigration and a slow construction sector.
Liberal ministers left the Prince Edward Island capital without announcing any new measures, hurting the party in the polls.
A former director general of policy and affairs in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office, Marci Surkes, now head of government relations strategy at public relations firm Compass Rose, believes housing will be the government’s top priority by the end of its mandate.
Frankly, the government has put in place significant programs and has invested a lot since last year. Some measures are starting to bear fruit. But the reality is that the focus on supply remains in place. There is no respite yet.
Marci Surkes, former director general of policy and office affairs for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
The government launched its plan in April to combat the country’s housing crisis. The goal is to unlock the construction of 3.87 million new homes by 2031.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation predicted in April that the housing affordability crisis could extend into 2026. However, it noted that the housing starts situation should begin to improve in the coming months if interest rates continue to fall.
Over the past five years, rents have increased by almost 25% in Canada.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that the ratio of house prices to incomes has started to decline after peaking in early 2022. On average, house prices have increased 40 per cent more than Canadians’ incomes since 2015.