#GoodReads – Boosting The Housing Supply

“Three Ways The Federal Government Can Help Boost Housing Supply”

Via Canadian Real Estate Magazine.

“Building 1.5 million new homes in a 10-year period is a daunting task but achievable. To reach the target, all levels of government and residential construction industry stakeholders must be working in unison.

Over the past two years, the provincial government has introduced many significant pro-housing legislative measures – the most progressive in a generation, in fact – aimed at boosting the supply.

Municipalities must now follow the blueprint that has been laid down by the province – and the federal government must now step up to the plate to ensure housing supply and affordability issues are addressed. RESCON is suggesting three crucial actions that the federal government should take.

First, the feds must reform the immigration system to allow more construction workers with specialized skill sets required to build condos and homes to come to Canada…

Second, the government must unlock surplus federally owned land for affordable housing projects and create incentive-based programs to spur supply in both the profit and non-profit sectors…

Third, the feds should remove the mortgage stress test which requires borrowers to prove they can meet monthly mortgage payments either based on the highest rate being two points higher than the current rate, or 5.25 per cent. The stress test served its purpose and prevented home buyers from over-leveraging themselves during periods with low borrowing rates. However, it is now preventing Canadians who qualify at the current rate from securing a mortgage…

Canada presently has the lowest amount of housing per capita and the highest cost of housing amongst G7 countries. These are not good metrics.

The measures we are suggesting could be put in place immediately by the federal government and – while not a silver bullet to the housing crisis – would certainly be a progressive step forward.”

To read the full article, click here.