The federal Liberal government hopes to ease the housing crisis with more than $10 billion in funding meant to speed up home construction and repairs.
The commitments are part of a raft of promises in the federal budget unveiled Thursday that also include a two-year ban on foreign investors buying homes and tax measures meant to reduce speculation.
Increasing housing supply is the clear focus of the spending commitments, which include $4 billion for municipalities as part of a housing accelerator fund, $1.5 billion for affordable housing and $4.3 billion for Indigenous housing.
The Liberals say they will also leverage more than $40 billion in infrastructure funding to push cities and provinces to act faster on housing.
To tamp down on speculation and demand, the Liberals have also proposed a two-year ban on foreign home buying as well as higher taxes for people who sell their home within a year, though both measures include multiple exceptions.
The budget also includes measures to help people trying to get into the market, including a new savings account and changes to the first-time homebuyers tax credit.
CHEK News
