Everyone deserves a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home. An Avi-led NDP will implement a national rent cap, legislate new tenant protections, tax corporate landlords, and ensure a public builder delivers the affordable housing we need.
Canada is deep in a generational housing crisis. Rents have skyrocketed, home ownership is out of reach for an entire generation, homelessness is on the rise across the country, and people are forced to stay in violent relationships because they can't afford to leave. While corporate landlords and real estate investors profit from speculation, working class Canadians are forced to choose between paying the rent, buying groceries, and filling prescriptions.
Every day, people are living in tents or shelters across our country due to a failure of successive governments to build the deeply affordable housing we need. And the federal government has abjectly failed in its responsibility to close the housing gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
But it doesn't have to be this way. We can restore housing as a human right for everyone, not a get-rich-quick scheme for speculators. We can put an end to the fear that you may be evicted simply because your landlord wants to jack up the rent. And we can give young people hope that home ownership need not just be a dream, but a reality.
A home is more than just a roof over your head: it's fundamental to being able to live a good life. That's at the heart of our housing plan, ensuring that every single person in this country has the housing they need not only to survive, but to thrive.
An Avi-led NDP would treat the housing crisis as a massive market failure that can be fixed with policies to:
Cap the rents & protect tenants
A national cap on rent increases to give power back to renters and make life more affordable by putting an end to outrageous rent hikes. We will enshrine new protections against renovictions and displacement into law, ensure access to legal services, and support tenant organizing so renters can defend their rights.
Reclaim housing for people, not profit
It's time to tax big corporate landlords and fairly tax investment properties that are driving up costs for renters and homeowners. We will also establish a Federal Housing Secretariat – akin to the current Major Projects Office – to coordinate every federal housing lever and ensure Ottawa works with other levels of government to treat home-building like the nation-building project it is.
Build a million public homes
A public builder to deliver one million social, co-op, non-profit, and supportive homes within five years. Coupled with investment in community commons, that include childcare, libraries and rec centres where people can congregate and thrive.
End homelessness
A coordinated plan to end homelessness that brings together every level of government, with a particular focus on preventing youth homelessness and addressing the disproportionate impact of homelessness on marginalized communities. We will ensure that supportive housing with wraparound services is a priority and informed by a practitioner-led advisory council.
Implement a 'For Indigenous, By Indigenous Housing Strategy'
Real reconciliation means ensuring that Indigenous communities have safe, affordable, and dignified housing. We will work with Indigenous leadership on a national 'For Indigenous, By Indigenous Housing Strategy' that allocates resources adequately to urban, rural, and Northern Indigenous housing projects.
