May 3, 2024
Hamilton, Ontario
 

One of the biggest pressures on people right now is housing. Young Canadians – particularly Millennials and Gen Z – are being priced out of their communities. Families are finding it difficult to get a good place to settle down. Rising rents and the high cost of buying a home are making it more difficult for younger generations to find a place to call their own. We need more homes in Canada, and we need to keep them affordable.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today highlighted measures included in Budget 2024 and Canada’s Housing Plan to make the housing market fairer for renters and first-time home buyers. 

Budget 2024 proposes a landmark measure to make rental payment history count toward your credit score. For most young people, the biggest payment you make is on rent – and if you’ve been paying that on time for years, that should count toward your credit score. With Budget 2024, you can opt-in to have your on-time rent payments improve your credit score. So, when it comes time to apply for a mortgage, you get a better deal, and get a place of your own, sooner.

Earlier this week, we tabled the Notice of Ways and Means Motion to introduce the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 – and start our work to get this legislation to Canadians. We’re prioritizing this bill for a quick, unanimous passage in Parliament – because Canadians need these supports, now. 

Measures in the Budget Implementation Act include: 

Enhancing the Home Buyers’ Plan.

• Increasing the Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit from $35,000 to $60,000 so that first-time home buyers can save up to $25,000 more for their down payment faster. 
• Extending the grace period for Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) withdrawals for home buying by an additional three years so that first-time homeowners are not required to start repaying their Home Buyers' Plan withdrawals to their RRSP for up to five years, as opposed to two.

Protecting Canadians from unfair foreign buyers. 

• Extending the ban on foreign buying of Canadian homes by an additional two years, meaning that foreign investors cannot buy residential properties in Canada.

Keeping housing available for the middle class. 

• Cracking down on short-term rental operators that do not comply with the relevant provincial or municipal laws. 
• Launching a $50 million short-term rental enforcement fund to support provinces, territories, and municipalities in their work to unlock homes for Canadians. 

These measures will help make sure a home for sale or for rent actually goes to a student, a young family, or a senior – not a big corporation or a foreign investor trying to hoard up supply. It will help renters get a fair rent and, if they’d like to, move into home ownership a lot sooner. It will unlock millions of new homes, meaning that Canadians get a place of their own, at a price they can actually afford.

We’re building more homes and making sure they’re affordable – and it’s just one of the things included in Budget 2024. Alongside these measures, we’re growing our economy, investing in health care, and creating good-paying jobs so that every generation can get ahead.