Affordable Housing | Quebec got a small share of Ottawa’s billions

(Ottawa) Quebec has received until now only a fraction of the billions allocated by the Trudeau government in affordable housing programs, we learn in a compilation carried out by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ( CMHC). “A great injustice,” denounces the Bloc Québécois.

“What we feared is emerging, that is to say a great inequity for Quebec,” notes with regret the Bloc member Gabriel Ste-Marie, in an interview. He had requested a breakdown by province of the housing programs managed by the organization.

Quebec received 14% of the allocated funds, which is below its demographic weight in the country, which is close to 23%. This is a little more than 4 billion out of the 29 billion aimed at financing the construction of new housing since 2019. If it receives a share roughly equivalent to the proportion of its population in most programs, two of them They bring down the average: the Fund for Affordable Housing (FLA) and the Apartment Construction Loan Program (APCP).

Quebec only obtained 6% of the FLA sum, or approximately 465 million out of 7.5 billion. This money was used to finance more than 10,000 homes. By comparison, Ontario got more than half of the fund with $4.1 billion.

In the case of the PPCA, Quebec’s share is 15%. 2.7 billion were allocated for the construction of more than 8,000 homes out of the 17.6 billion. Ontario and British Columbia got $7.7 billion and $6 billion, respectively.

The gap between the provinces is explained by the fact that these programs are based on demand and therefore projects submitted by developers, indicated the Minister of Housing, Sean Fraser, in an interview. CMHC did not respond to questions from The Press.

“We are in the middle of a housing crisis and we are paying out of our taxes to house Ontarians while we can no longer pay the rent at home. Do you now understand why we must keep the federal government as far away as possible from our exclusive jurisdiction over housing,” asked Bloc Québécois whip Claude DeBellefeuille during question period.

Injustice

The Trudeau and Legault governments have reached an agreement to build 8,000 housing units, which is “the largest investment in affordable housing ever seen in Quebec,” responded Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, recalling the 1.8 billion agreement reached. last fall as part of the Accelerated Housing Fund, which is part of the Rapid Housing Initiative program.

“And that’s because the government of Quebec and the Canadian government are working together, twice $900 million to give all Quebecers and Canadians the affordable housing they need,” he added. .

The Bloc Québécois still fears that what it considers to be an injustice will be repeated with the rain of billions announced for housing as part of the striptease government budget. The next budget which will be tabled on Tuesday includes 6 billion for a new fund which will be used to finance infrastructure necessary for housing such as sewers. It also provides an additional 400 million for the Fund to accelerate housing construction.

The new Building in Canada program, also recently announced, will make it possible to conclude an agreement with Quebec, recalls Housing Minister Sean Fraser. “This is a new approach that will allow us to treat [cet enjeu] bilaterally, where before it was based on applications and promoters. »

The fact remains that this program, modeled on a program already existing in British Columbia, imposes conditions on the provinces such as reducing the time for project approval and building housing on vacant or government-owned land.

Minister Fraser and his Quebec counterpart, France-Élaine Duranceau, spoke on this subject this week. Quebec wants an agreement without conditions.