HANSARD QP: When are the Liberals going to stop the profiteering off housing so that families can find a home they can afford?
Housing
Oral Questions
April 17th, 2023 / 2:45 p.m.
Oral Questions
April 17th, 2023 / 2:45 p.m.
Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP
Mr. Speaker, I just got back from a two-week cross-country tour, hearing from Canadians who are struggling to find a home that they can afford in the city where they can work and raise a family. From Victoria to Toronto to Hamilton to Halifax, renters and people who want to own their own home are having to compete with corporate landlords, who buy up affordable housing stock and drive up the cost of housing. Successive Liberals and Conservatives have failed to crack down on these corporate landlords, who are fuelling the housing crisis; families are paying the price.
When are the Liberals going to stop the profiteering off housing so that families can find a home they can afford?
Mr. Speaker, I just got back from a two-week cross-country tour, hearing from Canadians who are struggling to find a home that they can afford in the city where they can work and raise a family. From Victoria to Toronto to Hamilton to Halifax, renters and people who want to own their own home are having to compete with corporate landlords, who buy up affordable housing stock and drive up the cost of housing. Successive Liberals and Conservatives have failed to crack down on these corporate landlords, who are fuelling the housing crisis; families are paying the price.
When are the Liberals going to stop the profiteering off housing so that families can find a home they can afford?
Ahmed Hussen Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
Liberal
Mr. Speaker, I do not think my time for the answer is actually enough to articulate all of the things we have done. We have done so much to enable families to access homes: introducing the Canada housing benefit; putting together a 1% tax on vacant homes owned by non-Canadian and non-resident owners; putting together a ban on foreign owners of Canadian residential real estate; investing billions of dollars to build more affordable housing, including deeply affordable housing through the rapid housing initiative; and so on and so forth. We will not relent until each and every Canadian has access to a safe and affordable place to call home.
