November 26th, 2024

As noted in a previous newsletter, on May 29th, the National Housing Council (NHC) released a Review Panel Report on the Financialization of Purpose-Built Rental Housing as well as Supplementary Materials. UDI had submitted comments to the Review Panel at the end of August. In addition, David Sander, the Past Chair of UDI’s Rental Housing Committee, at that time, participated in their oral hearings. 

On October 23rd, the Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities also responded to Review Panel Report and its recommendations. The Minister notes that many of the recommendations have been implemented through Budget 2024, previous budgets and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan, including: 

• Increasing the supply of rental housing through programs such as the Apartment Construction Loan Program, the Public Lands for Homes Plan, and removing the GST on purpose built rental housing; 
• Protecting the supply of affordable housing through $1.5 billion in funding for a new Canada Rental Protection Fund;  
• Working with provinces/territories to protect tenants through a Blueprint for a Renters’ Bill of Rights, as “… tenant rights and landlord-tenant relations fall under the jurisdiction of provinces and territories …”; and 
• To improve housing data, funding “… $20 million over four years to modernize and enhance the collection and dissemination of housing data, including municipal-level data on housing starts and completions.”   

In his response, the Minister also states that “Decades of underinvestment in housing and restrictive planning policies have led to a widening housing supply gap, which has contributed to steep rent increases and the lack of affordable housing options. There simply aren’t enough homes being built to meet the housing needs of everyone in Canada.” 

He also argues for the need to partner with the private sector to deliver more housing, as “… most rental housing will continue to be built and managed by the private sector …,” and “Increased private sector participation will be critical to accelerate new housing and address the scale of the challenge facing our nation.” 

June 4th, 2024

Last year, the NHC established a Review Panel to report on the financialization of PBR housing. Last year, UDI provided written feedback to the Panel, and David Sander, the Past Chair of the UDI’s Rental Housing Committee, at that time, participated in their oral hearings.  

On May 29th, 2024 the Review Panel released its The Financialization of Purpose-Built Rental Housing Report as well as Supplementary Materials, which were also submitted to the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.  

In their Report, the Panel calls the “… financialization of rental housing … a growing challenge … that requires urgent and deliberate intervention by the federal government.” They state that “… most housing in Canada is financialized …”. However, they are particularly concerned that “Some financial actors make it their business to purchase rental housing units and manage these buildings strictly to produce a short-term financial return for their investors …”. They argue “… these strategies have an adverse impact on the right to adequate housing and significantly reduce affordable rental housing supply.” At the same time, they state “… that there is a lack of data … that is preventing a complete understanding of the connection between the financialization of purpose-built rental housing and human rights on a national scale.” 

The Panel is also critical of the Federal Government for underinvesting in non-market rental housing for several decades. They advocate that the right to adequate housing be treated in a similar way to universal health care. At the same time there is a recognition that “… the current economic climate hinders both non-market and market housing providers’ efforts to increase and operate affordable purpose-built rental housing in Canada.” 

The Panel has several recommendations for the Federal Government (some of which have in whole or in part been incorporated into the Federal Housing Plan and/or Budget 2024).  

The Report’s recommendations include: 

• Focusing the Federal funding/lending provided to the rental sector (including the Apartment Construction Loan Program) to increasing “… the supply of affordable rental housing that is kept affordable in perpetuity;” 
• Defining affordable rental housing in a way that references “… 30% of the household income of tenants whose income is equal to or falls below the average income in Canada;” 
• Increasing the percentage of non-market rental housing from 3.5% of Canada’s total housing stock to 6.9% to align with other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries;  
• Increasing Federal funding for non-market housing, which is currently 0.1% to 0.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) “… to match the average funding provided for social housing by other developed OECD countries (0.5%-1.5% of GDP);” 
• Transferring suitable crown land to local jurisdictions for developing non-market housing exclusively; 
• Establishing a Canada Housing Benefit for “… all low-income tenants spending over 30% of their household income on rent;”  
• Developing a data strategy “… to identify unmet housing needs to adequately protect and support tenants;” and  
• Convening all levels of government and the housing sector (including non-market and market housing representatives) to develop “… national consensus standards for tenant protections …,” that would be implemented “… through provincial and territorial tenant protection agreements (similar to the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Agreements).” 

The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities has six months to respond to the recommendations.