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National Strategy on Housing for Young Canadians Act

An Act to establish a national strategy on housing for young Canadians

Summary

  • Requires the designated Minister to develop a national strategy to improve affordable, secure housing access for young Canadians aged 17–34.
  • Mandates consultations with provinces, territories, municipalities, youth-serving organizations, housing providers, and young Canadians, including at least one conference.
  • The strategy must assess current affordability and availability (rental, student, and entry-level ownership) and outline measures to spur construction, support first-time buyers, and improve intergovernmental coordination.
  • Requires tabling the strategy within 18 months and an effectiveness report within four years, with both reports published online.

Builder Assessment

Vote No

The bill addresses an urgent barrier to opportunity—housing affordability for young Canadians—but it is a process bill that adds planning and reporting without implementing concrete supply, permitting, or tax changes. It risks more bureaucracy and delay with uncertain economic impact.

  • Lacks binding targets, delivery timelines, or accountability mechanisms to ensure new units are built.
  • Adds administrative layers (consultations, conferences, reports) without streamlining approvals or programs.
  • Does not tackle core bottlenecks (permitting timelines, exclusionary zoning, land release, skilled labour shortages, material costs).
  • Offers no tax or regulatory incentives to spur purpose-built rental, student housing, or entry-level supply.

Suggestions to improve alignment:

  • Set measurable national and regional unit targets and strict timelines, with automatic consequences for missed deadlines.
  • Tie federal funding to municipal permitting speed, by-right density near transit, and removal of exclusionary zoning.
  • Mandate one-stop, time-limited approvals and deemed approval if deadlines are missed.
  • Release and dispose of federal lands for housing with build-start deadlines and affordability covenants.
  • Facilitate labour and materials: fast-track skilled trades immigration/credential recognition and cut tariffs/constraints on key building materials.
  • Include targeted tax measures (e.g., accelerated capital cost allowance, HST/GST relief on purpose-built rentals, and incentives for modular/build-to-rent) tied to rapid delivery.

Question Period Cards

Why is the government taking 18 months to table yet another housing strategy instead of immediately fast-tracking permits, unlocking federal lands, and pre-empting exclusionary zoning so young Canadians can get homes built this year?

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What is the price tag for this new strategy and reporting apparatus, and how will the Minister guarantee dollars go to shovels in the ground rather than to more conferences and consultants?

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Will the Minister commit to enforceable targets—such as a defined number of new rental and student housing units within two years—and tie federal dollars to municipal permitting timelines and zoning reform, yes or no?

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Principles Analysis

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Canada should aim to be the world's most prosperous country.

Better housing affordability could support long-run prosperity for young workers, but the bill only mandates a strategy with no direct economic levers or targets.

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Promote economic freedom, ambition, and breaking from bureaucratic inertia (reduce red tape).

Creates new planning, consultation, and reporting layers without explicit deregulatory actions or timelines to cut red tape; 18-month delay signals more process.

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Drive national productivity and global competitiveness.

Affordable housing near jobs can raise productivity, but the bill implements no concrete supply-side reforms; impact depends on unspecified future measures.

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Grow exports of Canadian products and resources.

No material connection to trade or exports.

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Encourage investment, innovation, and resource development.

References promoting construction, but provides no funding, incentives, permitting reform, or innovation agenda to actually catalyze investment.

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Deliver better public services at lower cost (government efficiency).

Adds reporting obligations and coordination processes without streamlining programs or reducing costs.

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Reform taxes to incentivize work, risk-taking, and innovation.

Contains no tax policy changes.

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Focus on large-scale prosperity, not incrementalism.

Strategy-first approach with long timelines and no binding outcomes; risks duplicating existing frameworks rather than delivering immediate supply.

Did we get the builder vote wrong?

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C-227

PartyLiberal
StatusOutside the Order of Precedence
Last updatedSep 18, 2025
TopicsHousing and Urban Development
Parliament45