Government of Canada Provides Housing Support to More Than 1 Million Canadian Families

Montréal, Quebec, August 27, 2019

Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. That is why, since November 2015, the Government of Canada has made historic investments in housing and launched the first-ever National Housing Strategy.

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), today announced that, from November 2015 to June 2019, the Government of Canada invested more than $13 billion to support affordable housing across the country.

As a result of these investments and the federal government’s renewed leadership in housing, 41,800 new units have been or are being built, 229,600 units have been or are being repaired, and 782,000 families or individuals benefited from a more affordable place to live. These investments have also helped provide more stable housing to 35,000 Canadians who were homeless or at serious risk of homelessness.

Quotes:

“Through the National Housing Strategy, more middle-class Canadians — and those working hard to join it — now have safe, accessible and affordable homes, and this is just the beginning.”
— Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

“This is what housing activists have been fighting for. It’s clear; our Government has built a strong foundation. The National Housing Strategy moves Canada forward but more importantly is delivering real housing for real families now.”
— Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

Quick facts:

In Quebec alone, the Government of Canada has invested over $1.9 billion to support more than 347,000 families since November 2015.
The Government of Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS) is an ambitious 10-year, $55-billion plan that will create 125,000 new housing units, help repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units and cut chronic homelessness in half. The NHS aims to address core housing need for 530,000 families.
The NHS is built on strong partnerships between federal, provincial and territorial governments, and on continuous engagement with others, including municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, and the social and private sectors, to make a meaningful difference in the lives of Canadians.
Since November 2015, Canada has seen over 627,700 new housing units built. Of these housing starts, 267,000 are homeowner units, 138,600 are rental units, 221,000 are condominium units and 1,100 are co-operative housing units.
The average yearly housing starts from 2016 to 2018 were 193,600, compared to a yearly average of 176,600 from 2010 to 2015.
Federal measures to tighten stress-testing requirements, for example, have contributed to the reduction of house prices by 3.4% nationally, a price reduction equivalent to about $17,000. Among the largest census metropolitan areas, estimated price declines are 7.9% in Vancouver (about $80,000), 5.3% in Toronto ($40,000), 2.5% in Calgary ($12,000) and 2.2% in Montréal ($8,000).

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As Canada’s authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC’s aim is that, by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home that they can afford and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

To find out more about the National Housing Strategy or the report Getting Housing Right: A Progress Report on Federal Housing Investments, please visit www.placetocallhome.ca.