There are about 16.3 million homes in the country. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. last year calculated that, for prices to moderate, 5.8 million more are needed over the next decade – that’s 3.5 million on top of the 2.3 million that would otherwise be built. Look at those numbers and wonder why the Prime Minister held a press conference for 214 homes. Look at those numbers and consider the national housing strategy’s modest impact, 107,519 homes, so far.
I don’t buy this idea. The feds have all sorts of things they can do. Can they solve the crises alone? Of course not. But they can sure as hell help.
Let’s start with capital gains on the sale of a home…
What tools do they really have, other than money?
Really, what tools do the federal government have that can be used, and have effect, in local legislation?
They have the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the same people who currently provide mortgage insurance. In their original 1945 mandate, they were responsible for building housing for returning war veterans, as well as loans to purchase them. It was only later, in the 1980s, that the building part was dropped and they took up their current role.
So the federal government has the option of returning the CMHC to its original mandate.
Like I said in the comment they could change capital gains exclusion on a primary residence. Add taxes for homes past your primary home (like Singapore). They could stop with the RRSP withdrawals for home buyers, kill the first time home buyers savings account, ban foreign buyers without all the loop holes, add legislation around cooperate ownership etc.
Other countries are doing things at the federal level. For some reason our Feda only institute programs that actively make things worse.
Of course, other counties often have it easier there. For instance, looking to our neighbours to the south, their federal government reigns supreme. It can push policy down on the states. That is not the case in Canada. The provinces are of the highest power.
Well, yes, trying to make the provinces look bad is kind of the federal government’s thing. Presumably it is because it wants to convince the public that it needs that supremacy, so that one day it can take it.