THUNDER BAY — Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called for federal action to encourage more affordable housing development on the second day of a visit to Thunder Bay on Thursday.
In a press conference at Prince Arthur’s Landing, Singh urged the government to waive the federal portion of HST on new affordable housing builds, renewing a call his party has been making for over a decade.
Singh noted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals had previously committed to an HST waiver for new rental builds in 2017.
The party later dropped the campaign pledge, arguing there were better ways to incentivize affordable housing.
Six years later, Singh said the government had little to show for its housing policy efforts, and should implement the HST waiver.
“We’ve had eight years of Prime Minister Trudeau who’s promised to make things better — when you ask people, things have actually gotten worse.”
Singh said a shortage of housing supply had created “a really desperate situation,” pointing to local statistics like Thunder Bay’s vacancy rate for two-bedroom units.
“Vacancy rates in Thunder Bay are at one per cent,” he said. “That means if you lose your home or you’ve got to move, you’re facing potentially being on the streets, because there’s simply no availability — and that should not be the way things are.”
The NDP has previously campaigned on a promise to waive the HST on new affordable units, but had not specified how it would define affordability.
On Thursday, Singh suggested the government could adopt a benchmark of 80 per cent of market rental rates, but said his party is open to public and expert feedback.
He said discussions with industry players had left him confident the tax waiver could have a real impact.
“The housing experts as well as the builders themselves have said, if there’s an incentive for us, we’ll do it — it’ll make sense for us.”
Still, he said more direct government action is also needed.
“Canada used to be very much involved in building homes that were affordable — some of the first homes that people bought in the post-war period were built by the government,” he said.
“If we want to build a housing market that works for Canadians instead of billionaires, we have to change the way the housing market is looked at, and that means a lot more non-market housing, looking at cooperatives and not-for-profit housing. It also means incentivizing private developers to build more.
Singh argued against a general HST/GST waiver for all new rental units, which he said the Liberals had proposed in the past.
“They have no strings attached, they just want to waive the GST,” he said. “We want to incentivize building that actually creates [homes] that people can afford.”
Asked how his party would support housing for First Nations in particular, Singh pointed to the NDP’s Indigenous housing platform, and said his party had played a role in securing commitments like over $280 million for off-reserve Indigenous housing announced earlier this month.
TBnewswatch has reached out to the office of Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen for comment on this story, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Thunder Bay–Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois, who accompanied Singh at Thursday’s press conference, said while the Ford government has increased supportive housing and homelessness funding, there’s been less action on affordable housing for low-income workers and families.
“I’m appreciative of the money that’s been given by the Conservative government to alleviate homelessness, that’s an important thing,” she said. “But it doesn’t address people who are working jobs at minimum wage and simply can’t find an affordable place to live.”
She called for more federal investment to support affordable housing builds, citing two local projects proposed by Fort William First Nation and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, and by Suomi Koti, as examples of projects with clear public benefits that have nonetheless struggled to secure funding.
