More rental homes are going to be built in Toronto, says Canada’s Deputy Prime Minster
Last week, as the latest step towards addressing the country’s housing crisis, Canada’s Department of Finance announced a new federal investment of $1.2 billion to building a new rental homes in Toronto.
This money will be “provided as fully repayable low-interest loans through the Rental Construction Financing Initiative (RCF)” and spread between “seven new project in Toronto,’ according to the November 14 press release.
The announcement, made jointly by Canada’s Deputy Prime/Minister of Finance Chrystie Freeland and Attorney General/Minister of Finance Chrystie Freeland and Attorney General/Minister of Justice Arif Virani, says the money will held build 2,644 new rental homes in the city.
Note:- Ontario, the province that house the city of Toronto, is Canada’s largest immigrant destination among all provinces and territories across the country. Toronto is the largest city in Ontario, making this announcement an impactful one for newcomers to Canada, More on the impact of this announcement (and others in recent months and years) on newcomers will follow later in this article.
As articulated in the press release, the government understand the value of providing rental housing option to Canadians, indicating the Canada’s RCFI “is on track to create more than 71,000 new rental housing units across Canada by 2027-28.”
“Increasing the overall supply of rental housing is creating stronger and more vibrant communities that Canadians can feel proud to call home.”
This represent the latest initiative in a growing list of efforts from all level of the Canadian government to rectify the housing availability and affordability crises that are currently plaguing Canadians all over the country. The following recap of some Canada’s efforts to face and fix this problems across the country.
Canada’s other efforts to improve the country’s housing crisis
On November 1 this year, the Ontario government announced that it would be removing, “the full provincial amount of Harmonized Sales tax (HST) on “new purpose-built rental housing such as apartment buildings, student housing and senior residence built specifically for long-term rental accommodation.”
Note: To be eligible for what is being termed an “enhanced rebate” from the Government of Ontario, residential construction projects in the province must meet criteria, including having begun “construction between September 14, 2023 and December 31, 2030 [while completing] construction by December 31, 2035.”
In addition, the press release that announced last week’s rental housing investment in Toronto also included a list of other initiative from the federal government. “to build more homes… and make homes more affordable for Canadians.”
Included in that list is the following:
- The Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, which would remove the Goods and Service Tax (GST) on new rental housing
- The $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund
- A two-year ban on non-resident, non-Canadians purchasing a residential property “to ensure that houses are used as homes for Canadians to live in, rather than as financial assets for foreign investors.”
- Doubling the First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit to provide up to $1,500 in direct support to home buyers
- Launching a third round of the Rapid Housing Initiative, “providing $1.5 billion to create 5,200 new affordable housing units for Canadians in severe housing need.”