The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Commission (CMHC), a Crown corporation, acknowledged the need to improve the affordable housing situation after it was revealed that one of its initiatives resulted in just 12 homes being built in eight years. This statement was made during a Senate committee meeting on October 26, where Sen. Pamela Wallin questioned Neil Levesque, vice president of operations for CMHC, about a program that utilized Crown land for housing development.
Sen. Wallin highlighted that the program, which began in 2015, aimed to build 672 homes in seven communities across the country. However, only 12 homes had been completed, all of which were in the community of Sherbrooke, Quebec. She questioned why the process took so long when there was ample Crown land available.
Mr. Levesque responded by stating that there needs to be a partner willing to develop the land. He also mentioned that sometimes the federal lands need to undergo remediation, which can take time.
Ms. Wallin expressed dissatisfaction with the progress, emphasizing that it was not a great record. Mr. Levesque acknowledged the need for improvement and mentioned that the turnaround time to process applications had been reduced to 51 days.
During the meeting, the chief economist for CMHC, Bob Dugan, noted that Canada needs 3.5 million more homes by 2030 to meet demand, requiring approximately $1 trillion in investment. He emphasized the importance of working closely with the private sector, which currently supplies 96 percent of housing in Canada.
Housing affordability has become a significant concern for the Liberal government. According to CMHC, there were 3,081 mortgage arrears between January 1 and March 31, compared to 2,920 for the entire year of 2022. A survey by Abacus Data revealed that four in five Canadians have overwhelming concerns about housing affordability, with 52 percent stating that their concerns have grown in recent months.