“This bill creates a new agency focused only on affordable housing. It will take over federal land to build affordable homes. Our other housing agency will keep focusing on regular market housing and loans.”

“Madam Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his questions and his concerns. Build Canada Homes will be the federal government agency to deliver affordable housing. CMHC will focus on market housing. There will be two agencies right now, CMHC on the market side and Build Canada Homes on the non-market side, that will be focused on housing. The Canada Lands Company, which has been involved in housing development for the federal government, is effectively folding into Build Canada Homes with the portfolio of federal lands where affordable housing can be built. That is one component. It is basically that we are going to two agencies. One is affordable housing-focused, non-market, and the second, CMHC, continues to provide support for market housing, the apartment construction loan program, the MLI select program and the research that the member opposite is discussing, which is valuable across the board for the whole housing continuum.”

“Groups in my riding are building affordable homes for seniors with mental health needs and working to end youth homelessness. I want the minister to tell us how non-profit housing groups are responding to this new housing corporation.”

“Madam Speaker, the minister just answered the question I was going to ask about how this structure actually clarifies the housing spectrum of non-market and market, and how the Canada Lands Company comes in, and so how this new structure will function in a way that is much, much better for proponents. Instead, I will ask the minister about the following. I know the proponents in my riding are going to provide housing for seniors with mental health issues. These are non-market housing units. They are going to get to functional zero in terms of youth homelessness. Minister, what has the response been in the community to Build Canada Homes? What kind of response are you seeing from proponents in the non-profit housing sector?”

“Non-profit groups are using this housing plan a lot. Most of the proposals come from non-profits working with private builders. Many of these projects are for supportive housing, which helps people leave homelessness. We are already working to build a couple of thousand of these homes across the country.”

“Madam Speaker, we have seen enormous uptake among the non-profit or community housing builders. I think a majority of the proposals coming into Build Canada Homes are from the community building sector and non-profits partnering with the private sector, which will do a lot of the construction and building. Those homes will be effectively operated by the non-profit sector, because they are affordable homes. In particular, I want to speak to the great uptake we have seen with transitional and supportive housing. The most important solution right now for homelessness is making sure people have access to a home that has the wraparound supports. We have a couple of thousand homes now in the works in partnership across the country for that supportive housing.”

“Our goal is to build as many affordable homes as possible with this money. We want to fund different kinds of housing, including supportive homes, rentals, co-ops, and middle-class homes.”

“Madam Speaker, the target is to build as much affordable housing as possible with the capital that is being provided here by the Government of Canada. There is an array of partnerships and collaborations now. There are different levels of affordability, as the member knows as a former mayor. There are projects that have deeply affordable supportive and transitional housing. Those require more investment from government, more support in terms of an equity investment to achieve that level of affordability. There is a mix of affordable rentals in many projects as well. As for setting random large targets to shoot for, we want to see the maximum amount of housing delivered. We want to see as much affordability as possible. That is the core goal for Build Canada Homes. We want to also leverage opportunity across affordable rental housing and co-op housing. We want to see a whole range of housing in the middle market, the so-called missing middle, delivered alongside that. It is a range of different types of projects, with different affordability, but we want to see all of that maximized for the benefit of Canadians.”

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“This new housing agency will focus on using Canadian wood to build homes. This will support forestry jobs and manufacturing across the country.”

“Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member’s concern around softwood. We see enormous opportunity with Build Canada Homes to focus on building with Canadian wood. That would benefit our industries from B.C. to Quebec and New Brunswick, provinces that rely heavily on softwood and forestry. We have real opportunities to scale up the value-added industry and make sure we are protecting jobs with softwood here in Canada. Buy Canadian is a key element with Build Canada Homes. That has gone into the investment criteria. We are seeing proposals come in that would use Canadian wood to build. We want to see, in the manufacturing sector, mass timber and value-added products built with Canadian wood. That is our focus with Build Canada Homes, making sure we do everything we can to use Canadian materials, to strengthen Canadian homebuilding and manufacturing, right into the forest industry. I am working in collaboration with the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources to make sure we are maximizing that opportunity and supporting that industry.”

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“New Brunswick was one of the first provinces to sign the federal housing deal. I want the minister to explain how important the provincial government was in making that happen so quickly.”

“Madam Speaker, further to the question that was asked by my friend and colleague from Acadie—Bathurst, we were extremely pleased this year that the minister came to New Brunswick and that we were one of the first provinces to sign the housing agreement. We certainly recognize that New Brunswick is a very rural province, and the provincial government had a key role in making sure the plan was brought forward. I am wondering if the minister would be able to explain how imperative it was that the province played a key role in ensuring that New Brunswick was able to sign an agreement in a fairly short period of time.”

“I want the federal government to partner with New Brunswick to build affordable homes. New Brunswick is ready to help manage these housing projects across the province, which makes it easier for us to invest.”

“Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her leadership on behalf of New Brunswick. Like the members of Parliament from New Brunswick, we are very encouraging of Build Canada Homes and New Brunswick partnering to maximize the opportunity to build affordable housing across New Brunswick. The Government of New Brunswick has been a leader, as the member said, in being one of the first provinces to step forward. As I mentioned earlier, with the opportunity to build in communities of all shapes and sizes, the province has put together projects across New Brunswick. It is bringing that portfolio forward and will help manage the delivery of that housing, which is fantastic. It makes it much more streamlined for Build Canada Homes to be able to invest, knowing that the province is overseeing that portfolio, and many communities are being served at the same time. I give a big thanks to New Brunswick for leading the way on that and to the members for supporting that.”

“This housing agency will help Indigenous communities. At least 10% of its affordable housing money will go to Indigenous housing projects. Many Indigenous home builders are already sending in proposals, including in the territories.”

“Madam Speaker, certainly, indigenous housing is a really important component of what Build Canada Homes is delivering and will continue to deliver. The floor for investment in indigenous housing in Build Canada Homes is 10% of the capital there for affordable housing. There are many proposals coming in from indigenous home builders. We look forward to seeing Build Canada Homes supporting projects. There is a huge opportunity. We saw this in the Nunavut and Yukon territories, where the majority of the population is indigenous. That housing will obviously be delivered by the territorial governments, but it will benefit indigenous residents. We are going to see a lot of proposals and partnerships with first nations and Inuit and Métis people as well.”