12-Month Lobbying Summary - In-house Organization

Subject Matters

• Aboriginal Affairs
• Budget
• Economic Development
• Employment and Training
• Environment
• Federal-Provincial Relations
• Financial Institutions
• Housing
• Immigration
• Industry
• Infrastructure
• Labour
• Municipalities
• Research and Development
• Taxation and Finance

Subject Matter Details

Grant, Contribution or Other Financial Benefit, Policies or Program

• That the government create a national Property Acquisition Program to support community housing providers with pre-approved Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation funding to buy existing rental properties and preserve affordability.
• That the government earmark additional funds for non-repayable contributions for National Housing Strategy programs designed to support the creation, repair, and renewal of affordable housing to offset skyrocketing borrowing costs.
• That the government support a fully funded Indigenous-governed urban, rural, and northern (URN) Indigenous Housing Centre to develop and deliver an URN Indigenous housing strategy.
• The introduction of a federal public relations campaign designed to counter NIMBYism and promote the value of community housing in Canada.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution

• The addition of housing clauses in Infrastructure Bilateral Agreements between Infrastructure Canada and provincial and territorial partners that provide incentives to build the capacity of local authorities and redevelop existing assets to increase the supply of new homes across the housing spectrum.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Policies or Program

• That the government ensures housing innovations achieve scale, by helping develop a robust innovation strategy for housing, including procurement policy and innovation centres for housing construction.
• That the government leverage federally owned land by leasing it at low rates to community housing providers for the use of creating housing.
• That the government should provide low-cost, long-term fixed-rate financing for constructing purpose-built rental housing
• That the government waive sales tax owing on the creation of purpose built rental units.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Policies or Program, Regulation

• That the government streamlines housing program approvals processes, which can include a Code of Conduct for Builders and a catalogue of pre-approved designs to allow for the fast-tracking of purpose-built rental housing.

Policies or Program

• Encouragement of the principle of universal design in all current and future federal programs aimed at repair and renewal of the existing stock and the eligibility of incremental costs associated with universal design in these programs, alongside increased training opportunities and resources to encourage the use of universal design principles.
• Implementation and monitoring of the effectiveness of the Housing Accelerator Fund, along with an ongoing discussion among municipalities facilitated by CMHC to share best practices on effective policies aimed at community housing development.
• That the federal government should help create a national workforce and immigration strategy on housing, including construction trades and other employment classes related to housing production.
• That the government must lead a collaborative effort with provincial and territorial leaders to create shared housing initiatives and targets for each level of government.
• The addition of skills development and human resource capacity growth as eligible expenses in all current and future capital programs and prioritization of the development and scaling up of materials and opportunities to professionalize the community housing workforce as part of future innovation and research-related initiatives undertaken by CMHC.
• The adoption, as a guiding principle of federal housing policy, that the federal government has an ongoing, permanent role to play in the provision of rental subsidies for community housing. This includes the introduction of a predictable, guaranteed, long term rental subsidy framework that guarantees ongoing rental subsidies.
• The allowance of incremental costs associated with improved energy efficiencies to be considered eligible expenses in all current and future programs that support the renewal and repair of existing community housing stock.
• The creation of an Affordable Housing Investment Tax Credit to incentivize private sector investment in affordable housing projects, while maintaining non-profit and municipal management
• The development of integrated, aligned application processes to funding programs at all levels of government which are created in consultation with the affordable housing sector to ensure application requirements are accessible to community housing providers.
• The establishment of a long-term national objective and annual targets for the creation of new community housing units in Canada with a minimum objective of doubling the proportion of community housing units by 2035.
• The review of all existing federal programs that provide support for the renewal and repair of community housing with the goal of reducing complexity, inefficiencies, and redundancies in the application process.
• Upcoming and future federal budgets with respect to policies and programs that will support the creation, renewal, or operation of non-market, affordable, social, or community housing across Canada.

• Subject matter details in previous versions

  Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution

  • That the federal government should help create a national workforce and immigration strategy on housing, including construction trades and other employment classes related to housing production.

  Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Regulation

  • Upcoming and future federal budgets with respect to policies and programs that will support the creation, renewal, or operation of non-market, affordable, social, or community housing across Canada.