Immigration part of solution to Canada's housing crisis, minister says
Canadian cities need to relax their zoning policies if they want to tap into billions in federal funds available for new home construction. That was one of the messages delivered by Sean Fraser, the federal minister of housing, to a lunchtime audience at the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto on Jan. 17. Here are three key take-aways from the event.
In March 2023, the federal government launched the $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund to fast-track the construction of at least 100,000 new homes countrywide by 2024-25. On Wednesday, Fraser had a message for municipalities trying to access that support.
“If you want to tap into the fund, be more ambitious than your neighbours,” Fraser said. Specifically, be more ambitious when it comes to zoning.
If you want to tap into the fund, be more ambitious than your neighbours
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. — the fund’s administrator — has made the elimination of exclusionary zoning as a key best practice for successful applications. That means abolishing low-density zoning and regulations that restrict affordable and social housing in residential areas. Instead, the agency suggests the focus should be on embracing mixed-use development and high-density residential projects near urban cores and transit corridors.
Fraser told the audience that he’s noticed a sudden shift in cities’ attitudes toward reforming zoning due to increased competition for funds, prompting greater openness to change, though some regions remain resistant.
“There are cities who won’t receive funding because they don’t want to end exclusionary zoning in Canada,” Fraser said. “I know who some of them are and maybe they’ll change their ways.”
Fraser acknowledged that high levels of immigration have been
Read more on financialpost.com
