Reinforcing Recent Federal Housing Announcements

The Update spoke to the recently announced policies and announcements made by the federal government on housing. This included the commitment to provide direct tax relief to new housing through the Improving Housing Supply Act (Bill C-26), which earmarks $1.723 billion for provinces and territories to put toward measures that support housing supply and affordability for homeownership in their regions. A positive agreement has already been signed with Ontario (though its implementation needs to be accelerated) to support the elimination of the HST, and, given the urgent need, CHBA looks forward to more agreements with other provinces – especially British Columbia, which faces similar challenges to Ontario. All other provinces can benefit from relief as well.

The Update also emphasized the need to address development charges (DCs), referencing the government’s commitment to provide $51B through the Building Communities Strong Fund to fund housing-supportive infrastructure. Jurisdictions with the highest DCs will be required to reduce them, and others with lower DCs will need to freeze or defer them. Again, an agreement has been signed with Ontario, and it is important that agreements with the other provinces be put in place rapidly. This announcement comes following years of advocacy by CHBA and HBAs across the country showcasing the negative impact that skyrocketing development taxes have had on housing affordability and supply, while imploring governments at all levels to find alternatives to development taxes. More deals with other provinces are expected to come.

Action on Building Codes

The government has announced it will take action on the building code, in line with CHBA recommendations, to reduce regulatory burden, improve affordability, support factory-built housing, and shorten project timelines. This will include strengthening analysis of proposed building code and standards changes to better assess the cumulative impact on housing affordability – a major issue CHBA has been emphasizing within government, working in tandem with provincial associations to ensure a unified voice across the country. Additionally, CHBA has been in correspondence with the Prime Minister on the need to take a pause on codes, and has produced a detailed white paper that is also being used by our provincial associations. The commitments in the Update are a positive step, and CHBA will continue pushing for more where it comes to the impacts of code on housing affordability and supply.

CHBA is also pleased to see its recommendations for supporting factory-built construction being pursued as well, with the Update committing to eliminating redundant factory and site inspections, creating a performance-based approval pathway for modular and panelized systems, and improving the consistency of how National Building Code requirements are interpreted.

Skilled Trades

CHBA is encouraged to see the government acknowledge that the path to Red Seal certification is a challenge for many, and instituted a goal of seeing the certification timelines cut by 50%. To support that, the government introduced a new and redesigned Apprenticeship Grant that aims to provide apprentices with a weekly income top-up of $400 per week while they are attending mandatory in-class training for a total payment of up to $16,000 per apprentice, paid in addition to Employment Insurance. Any measure that seeks to improve the apprenticeship system is a good start, however, while these measures will help increase capacity in some professions, more support is needed for non-apprenticeable trades used by the residential sector.
The government also announced $331 million over five years for the Union Training and Innovation Program (UTIP) to enable upgrades to union-run training centres, as well as modernize apprenticeship training for a faster journey to Red Seal. Given that unionized workers represent only 10% of the residential construction industry outside of Quebec, CHBA maintains that these types of funding initiatives for skilled trades need to go beyond unions to better serve the rest of the residential construction workforce.

That said, the government also announced a Team Canada Strong initiative to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 skilled trades workers by 2030-31. This does hold some usefulness for homebuilding, as it looks to support entry-level trades-related work experience.

CHBA will continue to work with government to seek additional refinement and/or programming that can more fully support the breadth of the needs of residential construction that goes beyond union training and Red Seal trades.

Construction Financing

The Update also addresses another issue confronting home builders and developers that CHBA has been advising government about: construction financing that is increasingly difficult to secure. The Update announces intentions to create new construction financing opportunities through amended mortgage insurance rules to support the construction of missing-middle housing like triplexes, fourplexes and multi-unit properties up to 8 units. The government will consult on possible additional financing measures to support the continued supply of more owner-occupied homes in advance of Budget 2026.

Changes to Mortgage System

CHBA has long expressed concern over the excessively restrictive mortgage system that has locked out well-qualified buyers for years. The Update states that the government is exploring ways to modernize mortgage products in line with best practices to improve homeownership by incorporating best mortgage practices from other G7 nations. While not explicitly stated, this likely indicates the intention to explore competitively priced mortgage terms longer than 5 years, per CHBA recommendations—which has seen some support from the Bank of Canada and OSFI. CHBA will continue to advocate that changes to the stress test be included as part of mortgage reform.

Next Steps

The Spring Economic Update was a step in the right direction and puts the government on a path to a more fulsome suite of measures that will truly help increase housing supply and improve affordability, with many measures very much in line with CHBA recommendations and advocacy. CHBA will continue to work with the government to complete a comprehensive and formalized plan to address housing supply and affordability for market-rate housing. You can see CHBA’s media release about the Update here, and read CHBA’s full suite of recommendations here.