Across the country, the cost of homes is only going up both in terms of buying or renting. There is a severe shortage of houses on the market creating an enormous problem for the entire population. The Canadian government has implemented some measures in its last budget to improve the situation. One of the government’s objectives is to build more affordable homes to meet the needs of the population. The budget includes a plan to not only make homes more affordable but also to double the percentage of homes built in the next decade, help Canadians who want to buy their first home, and protect both buyers and renters. One of the measures mentioned in the budget is a two-year ban on foreign investors buying homes in Canada. The budget contains over 29 measures related to housing. In this article, we will simply focus on several grant programs that are specific to this area.
Of course, many of these programs will be from the Canada Mortgage Corporation (CMHC). The CMHC is Canada’s national housing agency. Its goal is to make housing affordable for everyone in the country. The CMHC offers grant programs, contributions, and loans to professionals. They also have access to data and research on the housing market. They have programs for new construction, indigenous housing, renovation and repair, innovation, and research.
Budget 2022 proposes to provide the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation with up to $1.5 billion to extend the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI). The RHI is delivered by CMHC under the National Housing Strategy (NHS), Canada’s 10-year plan to invest over $72 billion in affordable housing development. The Rapid Housing Initiative fund was launched in October 2020 with an initial investment of $1 billion to help address the housing needs of vulnerable Canadians in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. The goal of the program is to create new affordable housing for people and populations who are vulnerable. Budget 2021 provides an additional investment of $1,5 billion. This initiative had two rounds of application and the total number of units expected to be created will be over 10,000 new units. The initial goal was 7,500 units.
One of the projects funded by the RHI is the Silvera Vista Apartments in northeast Calgary. This project received $24.6 million under the major cities stream of the Rapid Housing Initiative. This project is part of a bigger project where the government planned to add 244 new housing units, including 188 earmarked as affordable housing units for Calgary’s senior citizens. Guelph’s Grace Gardens in Ontario is another example of a project that has received RHI funding. This project received $6.4 million through the RHI to build 32 affordable bachelor apartments.
One additional program that will receive funding is the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund. The goal of this fund is to encourage new funding models and innovative building techniques in the affordable housing sector. This fund provides loans, contributions, and financing options that support housing innovation. Funding is available to municipalities, private sector developers and builders, and non-profit housing providers as well as community housing organizations that want to build new affordable housing in Canada.
Budget 2022 proposes $200 million to help develop and scale-up rent-to-own projects across the country. This will include $100 million to support non-profits, co-ops, developers, and rent-to- own companies building rent-to-own units. The Affordable Housing Innovation Fund will:
- Support the development of innovative approaches to affordable housing
- Create inclusive and accessible communities
- Contribute to the fight against homelessness
Through this program, a project in Vancouver was developed. In fact, the CMHC provided $6 million through the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund to Vancity, which allowed the creation of one of their first projects, Aspen. This project is a 145-unit affordable housing in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood, one of Vancouver’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Aspen offers a mix of studios to 3-bedroom units, is pet-friendly, has a community garden, and features a health centre.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will receive up to $4 billion over five years for a new Housing Accelerator Fund. This fund will help municipalities, creating a target of 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2024-2025. The fund will be application-based and will offer support to municipalities that:
- Grow housing supply faster than their historical average
- Increase densification
- Speed-up approval times
- Encourage public transit-oriented development and more.
As part of the low-income stream of the Canada Greener Homes Loan Program, an additional $ 458.5 million will be provided to CMHC over the duration of the program to provide lowinterest
loans and grants to low-income housing providers. The CMHC will also co-develop and launch an Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy. The goal of this program is to help target housing needs for indigenous communities. There will be more information to come on this program later this year.
The 2022-2023 budget proposes the supply of up to $4 billion to Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada over seven years starting in 2022-2023 to accelerate work in closing indigenous housing gaps as follow:
- $2.4 billion over five years to support First Nations housing on reserves;
- $565 million over five years to support housing in First Nations Self-Governing and Modern
- Treaty Holders communities;
- $845 million over seven years to support housing in Inuit communities; and
- $190 million over seven years for housing in Métis communities.
These are just a few of the programs that the government has decided to put in place to help the population and create affordable homes for Canadians. In the coming months, more details will be available for these programs.