M-81 Financialization of housing

That:

(a) the House recognize that,

(i) Canada is in the midst of an urgent national housing crisis due to the repeated failures of Conservative and Liberal governments to address housing; under the Conservatives, the cost of buying a home increased by 77% and under this Liberal Government it has increased by another $300,000; the average national rent is now nearly $2,000 monthly for a one-bedroom unit, vacancy rates are at record-lows, and more than 235,000 people are homeless,

(ii) the Auditor General of Canada has said the government will not meet their own targets to reduce chronic homelessness,

(iii) the financialization of housing has worsened the crisis by treating housing like a stock market, despite housing being enshrined in the law as a basic human right,

(iv) financialized landlords, such as real estate investment trusts (REIT), have profited from Canada’s urgent housing crisis by purchasing affordable housing stock and reno-evicting tenants to jack-up rents,

(v) real estate investment trusts enjoy preferential tax treatment and the seven largest REITs alone have saved a combined $1.5 billion through federal tax loopholes, and on April 3, 2023, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that the federal government would collect $285.8 million in additional tax revenues from 2023 to 2027,

(vi) over the last 30 years, Canada has lost 500,000 units of affordable housing due to the government’s cancellation of the affordable housing strategy in 1993,

(vii) between 2011 and 2016, Canada lost 322,600 affordable rental units in the private market; for every unit of affordable housing created by government, 15 were lost; and

(b) in the opinion of the House, the government should,

(i) adopt a human-rights based approach to housing, as enshrined under the National Housing Strategy Act,

(ii) place a moratorium on the acquisition of affordable homes by financialized landlords, including REITs and corporate firms who are making massive profits while driving up costs,

(iii) change the federal tax code to end the preferential tax treatment of REITs in Canada by applying the corporate tax rate, and invest that money into affordable housing,

(iv) create a federal non-profit acquisition fund to allow non-profit, co-op, or land trust organizations to purchase at-risk rental buildings when they come on the market to protect and expand Canada’s affordable housing supply,

(v) tie Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation backed financing, funding, or insurance to private landlords to specific criteria, including below-market affordability thresholds, ensuring affordability remains in perpetuity, no displacement guarantees, and minimum maintenance and energy efficiency standards,

(vi) require progressively larger down payments for buyers purchasing multiple properties, to disincentivize the treatment of housing as a stock-market,

(vii) mandate landlords to disclose property ownership and work with the provinces and territories to establish a national rental registry.