Increasing Housing Supply Relative to Immigration a ‘Core Challenge,’ Freeland Says

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland pauses while responding to questions during the second day of a Liberal cabinet retreat, in Vancouver on Sept. 7, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland acknowledged that Canada’s growing population relative to its housing stock is a “core challenge” during an announcement on housing on Aug. 10, adding that the federal government is focused on increasing the number of homes.

“A big challenge, the core challenge, is just the math of Canada’s population and housing stock. We do need to build more homes for a growing country,” said the finance minister during a press conference in Toronto.

“I think it’s a really good thing that the Canadian economy is growing and that Canada’s population is growing. It’s also the case that the housing supply is not keeping up, and our government is absolutely focused on working with provinces with municipalities to get more homes built in Canada.”

Ms. Freeland’s comments came after a meeting with young Canadians regarding Ottawa’s new tax-free First Home Savings Account, which allows Canadians to contribute up to $8,000 a year to a maximum of $40,000 yearly to save up for their first down payment.

Housing has become a major political issue in Canada with the Canadian Real Estate Association reporting earlier in 2023 that the average price of a home in Canada had hit $716,000. With the federal government planning to bring in 465,000 new immigrants in 2023, another 485,000 next year, and 500,000 in 2025, concerns have been raised about how Canada’s housing supply will be able to keep up.

Ms. Freeland called Canada’s lack of affordable housing an “intergenerational crisis,” and said all levels of government needed to “put forward all the tools we can to resolve this crisis.”

She added that a key part of the solution—building more homes—is “hard to accomplish.”

When asked by reporters about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent comments that housing “isn’t a primary federal responsibility,” Ms. Freeland said all levels of government needed to embody a “team Canada approach” to address the housing crisis, citing federal and provincial collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an example.