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Doing nothing now will only deepen the housing crisis
Press Releases
Quebec is facing a disastrous housing situation. While supply needs to be increased considerably to restore affordability, Quebec has seen a worrying 32% drop in housing starts in 2023. Unfavorable economic conditions, caused by a sharp rise in construction costs and interest rates, largely explain the critical situation Quebec is currently experiencing.
Given the scale of the crisis, housing industry players - the Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ), the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l'habitation du Québec (APCHQ), the Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ) and the Urban Development Institute (UDI) of Quebec - are calling on the Quebec government to send a clear signal in the next budget to increase supply. They are calling for a housing budget that meets the challenges at hand, and a major push to resolve the crisis. Any delay in implementing exceptional measures to turn the situation around will only exacerbate the rising cost of housing, undermine families' ability to pay and deepen the crisis.
The solution: build more. We need more housing, in all forms and in all markets. This is based on data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), according to which 1.2 million homes would have to be built by the end of 2030 to restore affordability - that's more than 150,000 a year, compared with around 40,000 a year today.
It would be disturbing and incomprehensible not to have any new measures in the budget. While the 8,000 social and affordable housing units built over the next five years as a result of the recent Canada-Quebec agreement, and announced in last November's economic update, are welcome, in reality they represent a partial response to the crisis, as they account for less than 2% of the increase in supply needed to restore affordability. If housing starts are to be revived, the Quebec government must urgently come up with solutions that will make it possible to build the other types of housing, which represent the remaining 98% needed to restore affordability. This crisis won't solve itself! To solve it, the Quebec government must support the industry.
The industry is still waiting for a government housing action plan
In its pre-budget representations, the industry's players joined forces to highlight the priorities with the greatest potential, insisting once again on the need for Quebec to implement a government housing action plan now. In this respect, the players reiterate their willingness to contribute to the development of this plan, in order to emerge from this crisis in a sustainable manner.
Budget priorities for achieving results in housing1 :
- Set up a government housing action plan with targets, short-term actions and workstreams to define promising medium- and long-term measures;
- Exempt new rental housing from the Quebec sales tax (QST), as well as new housing for first-time buyers;
- Help municipalities by creating a government and municipal infrastructure fund;
- Implement measures to promote access to home ownership, for example by offering a rate rebate to new home buyers;
- Support the renovation of rental properties.