A group of Canadian housing sector organizations, including non-profit and for-profit housing providers, developers, and investors, came together at a recent Roundtable to discuss the issues impacting affordability and supply constraints within the rental housing system. The discussion culminated in the creation of “The National Housing Accord: A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis”, a 10-point blueprint to restoring affordability and providing immediate protection for those at risk of homelessness.

In addition to outlining a path to building two million rental units in less than a decade —  effectively tripling the current rate of home building — the report includes a roadmap for the federal government to create the conditions for massive private investment in rental housing construction and to ramp up investment in deeply affordable, co-op and supportive housing.

Proposals include:

• Federal funding for deeply affordable housing, co-operative housing, and supportive housing, along with seniors’ housing and student residences, and doubling the relative share of non-market community housing;
• Reforming the National Building Code;
• Eliminating the GST/HST and changing capital cost allowance provisions on new purpose-built rental housing to incentivize construction;
• Creating property acquisition programs for non-profit housing providers to help purchase existing rental housing projects and hotels, and facilitate office-to-residential conversions;
• Creating a Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit to provide immediate support for people at risk of homelessness;
• Reforming the Canada Housing Benefit to better support individuals and families with the greatest housing needs; and
• Providing low-cost, long-term fixed-rate financing for constructing and upgrading purpose-built rental housing.

“The purpose-built rental housing sector in Canada continues to face major challenges responding to depreciating buildings, high inflation, and dramatically increased demand,” noted Michael Brooks, Chief Executive Officer, REALPAC. “Governments, for-profit and not-for-profit housing providers must come together to increase supply at all levels, from market rentals to social and supportive housing. That’s why we brought together this team of experts to put pen to paper and come up with a comprehensive set of realistic and immediately actionable solutions that can put Canada back on the path to the right to adequate housing for all.”

“Rents have been increasing faster than inflation across much of Canada, as the population of renters grows faster than the stock of rental housing,” added Dr. Mike Moffatt, Founding Director, PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute. “To house a growing population, to restore affordability, and allow workers to live in the communities in which they work, we need a substantial increase in the supply of purpose-built rental units. The National Housing Accord provides the federal government with an ambitious but achievable blueprint to create the housing Canada desperately needs.”

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the average monthly rent on a one-bedroom apartment has been increasing at or above Canada’s 2 per cent inflation target for the past 13 years. To restore affordability to Canada’s housing market, 5.8 million homes must be built in the next seven years, roughly two million being purpose-built rental units. Meanwhile, most of Canada’s existing purpose-built rental stock is over forty years old.

“The federal government needs to change its targets, policies, and taxation settings if it is going to scale up the affordable housing that Canadians so desperately need,” said Carolyn Whitzman, Expert Advisor, Housing Assessment Resource Tools project, University of British Columbia. “This report, arising from a big tent coalition of private and non-profit developers along with researchers, develops an agenda to address homelessness, core housing need, and moderate-income rental affordability. We need to scale up well-located social housing and market rental and the federal government can and must take the lead on this critical infrastructure provision.”

The National Housing Accord was designed by industry leaders from across the housing spectrum and was brought together by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and REALPAC and was facilitated by the PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute.

For more information, visit: The National Housing Accord: A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis