Housing on the Ballot: Breaking Down Party Platforms Ahead of the 2025 Federal Election – Hannah Schneider

This past fall, housing was noted to be one of Canadians’ main concerns. While priorities have shifted slightly amidst the U.S – Canada trade war, housing remains top of mind for many voters.

Housing prices have nearly doubled since 2015. In 2023, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that Canada needs about 3.5 million additional housing units by 2030, beyond typical annual development, to restore affordability to 2004 levels. However, Canada is also on the brink of housing construction crisis, with labour shortages impacting the amount of units developers can build.

Because of the lack of affordable housing, homeownership rates in Canada have been declining since 2011, while homelessness continues to rise.

On April 28^th, we will be heading to the polls to vote for Canada’s next prime minister. I’ve compiled summaries of the housing platforms of the Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP.

Liberal Party of Canada: Mark Carney

The Liberals have proposed a coordinated, government-supported push to build units and expand non-profit housing. In order to expand housing supply, increase affordability, and improve access to housing, Carney has promised the Liberals would:

• Build 4 million homes over the next several years. Carney has pledged $10 billion in financing for affordable housing construction, with the target of 500,000 new homes built per year. $4 billion would be directed towards long-term fixed-rate financing, with the remaining $6 billion allocated to the rapid development of deeply affordable housing, supportive housing, Indigenous housing, and shelters.
• Put homes on “every possible” site of federal land. According to a 2024 Globe and Mail report, there is enough federal land available to house 750,000 people. The Liberals have already began working on a plan to offer long-term leases to developers pledging to build affordable housing and have made 90 parcels available over the last year.
• Support innovative and efficient construction methods, such as prefabricated and modular housing development. Carney has pledged $25 billion in financing to the manufactured home industry.
• Invest in the construction sector workforce to combat the skilled trade labour shortage.
• Expand the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to include other critical infrastructure in addition to water and waste so communities can match development to their growth.
• Halve municipal development charges for five years.
• Create a federal agency tasked with increasing the speed of residential construction. The agency, Build Canada Homes, would be responsible for managing the aforementioned financing programs and build housing directly.
• Eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes under $1 million. Currently, Canadians buying new construction homes are required to pay 5% GST/HST if value of the new home is over $450,000.
• Expand the CMHC’s Rapid Housing and Rental Protection Fund programs to support small and non-profit developers, and double non-profit community housing.
• Develop homelessness reduction targets with each province and territory to inform investments and end encampments.
• Increase Guaranteed Income Supplement  by 5% for one year.
• Reintroduce the Multiple Unit Rental Building (MURB) tax incentive.
• Reduce the tax liability for private rental housing providers when they sell their building to a non-profit operator, land trust, or non-profit acquisition fund, if said proceeds are reinvested in building new purpose-built rental housing.

Notes:

• University of British Columbia professor and founder of the group Generation Squeeze Paul Kershaw asserts the proposed GST cuts would not help most Canadians, including renters and people buying resale homes.  
• Carney has made no explicit mention of measures to address excessive rents or unfair evictions.

Conversative Party of Canada: Pierre Poilievre

Also running a housing-heavy campaign, Poilievre is planning a different approach, providing less direct support for renters and low-income households. Instead, the Conservatives are relying on a more private market-driven approach, which assumes increasing supply will decrease home prices and rents for everyone over time. Here’s their strategy:

• Sell 15% of the 37,000 federally owned buildings to developers to turn into affordable housing.
• Waive GST for all homebuyers on the purchase of new homes under $1.3 million, not just first-time homebuyers. The intention is to make homebuilding more attractive for developers while lowering costs for a wider range of buyers, especially in high-priced markets.
• To offset the fiscal cost of significant tax breaks for the purchase of new homes, Poilievre promised to cut some existing federal housing programs such as the Housing Accelerator Fund.
• Poilievre is focused on reducing bureaucratic “gatekeepers”  in the government who he asserts are driving up prices and slowing construction.
• Tie federal infrastucture funding to housing development, penalizing municipalities that do not keep pace with growth targets and rewarding those that do. Poilievre promises to reduce red tape by fast-tracking approvals, loosening zoning restrictions around transit hubs, and encouraging higher-density building.

Notes:

• As previously mentioned, GST cuts will not help renters nor people buying resale homes. Experts note Poilievre’s broader GST cut would allow people who already have homes to get the tax break on rental units and investment properties.
• Poilievre has made no explicit mention of immediate support for renters and people experiencing homelessness. The same can be said for measures to address excessive rents or unfair evictions.
• If Poilievre were to scrap the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), Winnipeg would not be able to complete upgrades to a north end sewage treatment plant, upon which housing development is contingent. Further, the HAF was wildly oversubscribed to during the first round, meaning dozens of housing projects would be shelved.

New Democratic Party: Jagmeet Singh

The NDP has proposed a very renter and low-income household-forward plan. Singh’s party promises to:

• Build more than 100,000 rent-controlled apartment units on suitable federal Crown land over the next decade and pledged $1 billion to purchase further land for development. The NDP promises to develop a new Community Housing Bank to partner with Indigenous communities, non-profit housing developers, and co-operative housing operators.
• Retrofit 3.3 million Canadian homes. 2.3 million low-income households would get free energy-saving retrofits such as heat pumps, air sealing and fresh insulation. The NDP would allocate $1.5 billion annually over the next decade to complete the upgrades. The party would fund its proposed retrofits by cutting annual subsidies and tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. According to the NDP, cutting those supports would save Ottawa $1.8 billion per year.
• Stop corporate landlords from buying rental properties and raising rents. Additionally, they would restrict large corporate landlords’ access to low-interest federal loans, preferential tax treatment, and mortgage loan insurance. The NDP then plans to boost the Rental Protection Fund to help community housing providers purchase and acquire private rental buildings.
• Create the Communities First Fund, an $8-billion pot intended to support provinces and territories expand housing-enabling infrastructure, such as water treatment plants. Housing security strategies must aim to end encampments and homelessness.
• Increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement and double the Canada Disability Benefit.
• Introduce a Renters’ Bill of Rights that ties access to federal funding for provinces, territories, and municipalities that develop strong renter protection measures. Further, the NDP want to implement national rent control, and ban fixed-term leases, renovictions, and other predatory practices. Singh is also campaigning to ban rent price-fixing and collusion. Finally, the NDP recognizes the right of tenant unions to negotiate with landlords.
• Create $8 billion Canadian Homes Transfer program, which would help municipalities develop affordable homes quickly. This program also commits to 20 per cent non-market housing in every neighbourhood.

Notes:

• As of Thursday the 17th of April, Singh had not made any announcement on support for first-time homebuyers.