The Parti Québécois wants to open the door to property ownership wider for young people.
Its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, presented Monday a series of measures aimed at countering what he describes as intergenerational inequity and a breakdown of the social contract against young people in terms of access to property.
First and foremost, he suggests helping first-time buyers financially by offering them a 3.5% discount on mortgage interest rates through negotiations with financial institutions and loan guarantees. Taking the example of a 7% interest rate reduced to 3.5% for a $525,000 home purchased with a 10% down payment, the monthly payments would go from $3,308 to $2,358, or annual savings of $11,400.
It would also double the tax credit for the purchase of a first home, which would increase from $1,500 to $3,000, as well as the maximum QST reimbursement on the cost of building a new home, which would be increased to $20,000.
If the proposal on interest rates is inspired by Robert Bourassa’s My rate, my roof program, another proposal aimed at increasing supply by accelerating construction; it is inspired by the Corvée habitation program launched in 1982 by the government of René Lévesque. Québec solidaire also proposed a similar program during its caucus at the end of January.
Just as the federal government did recently, the Parti Québécois suggests providing a catalog of pre-approved plans to facilitate and accelerate the erection of houses and apartment buildings. He also proposes converting or selling vacant government buildings to use as places of residence.
Finally, one of the axes of the PQ plan is to reduce demand, which involves entirely reducing the thresholds for permanent immigration and the number of temporary immigrants, a thorny issue for which Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon had no precise data to offer, relying on future analyses.
The PQ leader says he wants to inspire the Legault government as the budget approaches, accusing it of widespread apathy in terms of housing and access to property.