Housing

During Statements by Members, members spoke about housing affordability and home construction. Scott Aitchison, a Conservative member, said Canada needs to build 500,000 homes per year, and pointed to industry projections of a nearly 20% decline in construction over the next three years along with declining home ownership among young people. He argued that the Prime Minister’s new housing agency will not build enough homes and called on the government to cut taxes and fees and reduce delays so builders can create more affordable homes.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

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1 statement

Scott Aitchison, Parry Sound—Muskoka

Conservative
“Home building is dropping and young people cannot afford houses. The Prime Minister's new housing agency will not build enough homes. I want him to cut taxes, cut fees, and stop the delays so builders can make homes people can afford.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, in response to the need to build 500,000 homes per year, the Prime Minister promised to build at a speed not seen in a generation. Today, the housing industry projects a nearly 20% decline in construction over the next three years, while Stats Canada reports that home ownership among young people is at the lowest level it has been since just after the Second World War. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that housing momentum is vanishing. Housing professionals, and Conservatives I might add, have been warning for years that the greatest threat to building more homes that Canadians can afford is in fact government fees and delays, so what has the Prime Minister done? Well, he spent the last year building the fourth federal housing bureaucracy, an agency that the PBO estimates will only add 26,000 units of the millions we need over the next five years. Here are my suggestions for the Prime Minister: stop building bureaucracy, cut the government delays, cut the fees, cut the taxes, and get out of the way so builders can build and Canadians can afford a home again.

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