A few weeks ago we had a Federal Election. Throughout the election campaign, many promises were made from all parties for housing policies that would go into place in the short-term future. Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party ultimately won the re-election with a minority and 160 seats. The win propels Justin Trudeau into his 3rd term as our Prime Minister, and this month marks the end of his 6th year in the Prime Minister’s office. 

We at GLM Mortgage Group | Dominion Lending Centres thought it would be great to outline all of the promises that Justin Trudeau made during his election. Although the Liberal Party won, other policies from other parties may take fruition, as a minority government must make some sacrifices based on their objectives to get enough votes to pass each bill. 

Below are all of the promises that the Liberal Party made during the 2021 election platform towards housing initiatives:

• Introduce First Home Savings Accounts for Canadians under 40 to save up to $40,000 towards their first house; deposits and withdrawals are tax-free

• Give $1 Billion in grants and loans to develop rent-to-own projects

• Add the option of a deferred mortgage loan to the First Time Home Buyer Incentive

• Reduce the price of home insurance by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. by 25 percent; increase the mortgage insurance purchase maximum to $1.25 million and index to inflation

• Double the Home Buyers Tax Credit claim amount to $10,000.

• Spend $2 billion on indigenous housing 

• “Build preserve or repair” 1.4 million homes in four years by putting $4 billion in a Housing Accelerator Fund to support municipalities’ housing efforts; increasing the funding to the National Housing Co-investment fund to $2.7 billion over four years; and introducing a multigenerational Home Renovation tax credit for families adding secondary units for relatives.

• Introduce a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights that will ban blind bidding, create a legal right to a home inspection and ban new foreign ownership of homes for two years.

• Have landlords report rent received before and after renovations and impose a surtax on “excessive” rent to stop renovations.

• Introduce a national tax of one percent annually on the value of non-resident, non-Canadian owner residential real estate that is vacant or underused

• Create an anti-flipping tax for residential properties sold less than 12 months after purchase

• Reallocate $300 million from the Rental Construction Financing Initiative to help convert excess commercial property to rental housing.

We will continue to update our social media platforms when changes and initiatives are brought in that affect our clients.