Ottawa, Ontario (October 8, 2024) – To address Canada’s housing shortage, the federal government is taking steps to unlock underutilized properties. This includes making it easier for homeowners to add secondary suites and repurposing vacant federal lands. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, along with Ministers Jean-Yves Duclos and Terry Beech, announced significant progress in these initiatives.

Federal Government Takes Bold Steps to Unlock Housing Supply

Ottawa, Ontario (October 8, 2024) – Today, the federal government announced a series of measures aimed at accelerating housing construction and increasing affordability. These initiatives will unlock underutilized properties, simplify regulations, and provide financial incentives to stimulate housing development.

Expanding Homeownership Opportunities

• Secondary Suites and Mortgage Refinancing: The government is introducing new measures to encourage the construction of secondary suites. These include:
  • Mortgage Refinancing: Homeowners will be able to refinance their mortgages to fund the construction of secondary suites, with up to 90% financing available and amortization periods of up to 30 years.
  • Increased Mortgage Insurance Limit: The maximum insurable mortgage amount for secondary suite refinancing will be increased to $2 million, ensuring access to financing in all housing markets.
• Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program: This program will provide low-interest loans to homeowners to support the construction of secondary suites.

Unlocking Vacant Land

• Vacant Land Tax: The government is launching consultations on a potential federal vacant land tax. This tax would incentivize landowners to develop their properties and increase housing supply.
• Canada Public Land Bank: An additional 14 underutilized federal properties have been identified for residential development, bringing the total number of available properties to 70.

Building a More Affordable Future

By implementing these measures, the federal government is taking significant steps to address Canada’s housing shortage and make housing more affordable for all Canadians. By unlocking underutilized properties, simplifying regulations, and providing financial support, the government is creating a more sustainable and equitable housing market.

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“We must use every possible tool to build more homes and make housing affordable for every generation of Canadians. That is why we announced the most ambitious housing plan in Canada’s history—a plan to build 4 million new homes. Today, we are taking bold action to deliver on key parts of that plan which will build new homes by making it easier to add a secondary suite to your existing home and making full use of available land in our communities.”

– The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

“Safe, accessible, and affordable housing options are out of reach for far too many Canadians. The launch of the Canada Public Land Bank in August 2024 laid the foundation for our efforts to unlock public lands for housing at a pace and scale not seen in generations. We are delivering on our promise to continue to add more properties to the land bank and meet the deliverables outlined in Budget 2024 to support a new, ambitious Public Lands for Homes Plan. In doing so, we can build strong communities and more affordable housing across the country.”

– The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement 

“Our government is unlocking new opportunities for homeownership by building homes on underused public lands, retrofitting federal buildings, and empowering homeowners to construct additional units. Young British Columbians and Canadians across the country face a tougher housing market than the generations before them and our plan will help create more housing options for them and their families.”

– The Honourable Terry Beech, Minister of Citizens’ Services

“The measures announced today are another step forward in our work to tackle the housing crisis, build more homes, and ensure that everyone has a safe and affordable place to call their own.”

– The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

• Today’s mortgage reforms to make it easier for homeowners to add secondary suites, such as basement apartments, in-law suites, and laneway homes, build on the federal government’s recent announcement of the boldest mortgage reforms in decades to unlock homeownership for every generation of Canadians. Starting December 15, 2024, Canadians will be able to apply for reformed mortgages and benefit from lower monthly payments. These reforms include:
  • Increasing the $1 million price cap for insured mortgages to $1.5 million, to reflect current housing market realities and help more Canadians qualify for a mortgage with a downpayment below 20 per cent. Increasing the insured-mortgage cap—which has not been adjusted since 2012—to $1.5 million will help more Canadians buy a home.
  • Expanding eligibility for 30 year mortgage amortizations to all first-time homebuyers and to all buyers of new builds, to reduce the cost of monthly mortgage payments and help more Canadians buy a home. By helping Canadians buy new builds, including condos, the government is announcing yet another measure to incentivize more new housing construction and tackle the housing shortage. This builds on the Budget 2024 commitment, which came into effect on August 1, 2024, permitting 30 year mortgage amortizations for first-time homebuyers purchasing new builds, including condos.

• In addition to reforming mortgage insurance rules to make it easier to add secondary suites, the federal government is:
  • Helping families afford to have a grandparent or a family member with a disability move back in if they want to with a new, refundable Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit of up to $7,500, available as of January 1, 2023; and,
  • Launching a new Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program to enable homeowners to access low-interest loans to help with the cost of renovations. More details will be announced before the end of the year.

• In Budget 2024 and Canada’s Housing Plan, the federal government announced the most ambitious housing plan—a plan which will build nearly 4 million homes by 2031. This plan takes a whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis by building more homes, making it easier to rent or own a home, and helping Canadians who cannot afford a home.
  • A key component of Canada’s Housing Plan is the Public Lands for Homes Plan, which will build 250,000 new homes by partnering with all order of government, homebuilders, and housing providers to build homes on surplus and underused public lands, such as unused federal offices, across the country.
  • Budget 2024 provided $500 million to launch the new Public Lands Acquisition Fund, which will buy land from other orders of government to allow the federal government to acquire more land to be used for housing to help build middle-class homes. Work on the fund is already underway, and more details will be released in the coming weeks.

• The 14 federal properties added today to the Canada Public Land Bank are located in:
  • Vernon, British Columbia;
  • Ottawa, Ontario;
  • Gatineau, Quebec;
  • Québec City, Quebec;
  • Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; and,
  • St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Provinces, territories, and municipalities that choose to implement vacant land taxes would be incentivized to design these taxes around a core tax base of land that is:
  • Vacant;
  • Residentially (or mixed-use) zoned;
  • Serviceable by municipal infrastructure (e.g., roads, water, sewage, and electricity); and,
  • Physically developable (e.g., appropriate lot size, no site contamination)

• Applying specialized taxes on vacant land would be intended to:
  • Encourage the development of land into housing rather than leaving it idle;
  • Discourage speculative holding of land by making it more costly to keep land undeveloped; and,
  • Provide a source of revenue, which could potentially be used to fund further investments to build more homes.

The real estate market inside scoop for the community you love. See homes that are for sale and have recently sold. Find out if home sales in your neighbourhood are trending up or down. See what homes around you are currently selling for.