The
government said the land is underutilized. The property could
potentially include abandoned industrial parks, sites of defunct
government companies and schools with low enrollment.
The plan still falls 1.2 million units short of what is needed
from 2023 to 2030, according to national housing agency Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corp.
The Liberal government has announced a series of measures to
address the housing crisis over the past two weeks, and the
issue is expected to dominate next week's federal budget.
The flurry of activity follows a surge in housing and rental
prices that has caused Trudeau's Liberals to lag the
Conservatives in opinion polls before an election that must be
held by October 2025.
"It is a plan that is actually going to make a difference in the
lives of Canadians," Trudeau told reporters in Vaughan, Ontario.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser said other new measures include
changes to a capital-cost tax structure that will encourage
institutional builders to construct more homes, proposals to
extend low-cost loans and combating on mortgage fraud that
artificially inflates the cost of houses.
Mike Moffatt of the Task Force for Housing and Climate, an
independent think tank, said builders and other stakeholders
would need to invest close to C$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) to
achieve the government's 3.9 million homes target.
"We are going to need to see more on the math, and we will need
to see more on (the cost) in the budget. But I think overall we
have seen some pretty significant reforms in today's package,"
he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Rapid growth in Canada's immigrant population has driven the
housing shortage along with inflation and high interest rates.
Housing in Canada is largely the responsibility of the 10
provinces and major municipalities. Ottawa, which has no direct
role in construction, relies on policy measures and funding.
($1 = 1.3760 Canadian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Nivedita Balu and Ismail Shakil;
editing by David Ljunggren, Aurora Ellis and Cynthia Osterman)
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