The 2025 federal election will provide all political parties with an opportunity to unlock the door to homeownership by supporting policies that will improve housing affordability.
Below is a high-level summary of platform elements in each major national party and how they respond to CHBA’s recommendations in their platforms.
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CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Continue federal leadership regarding the importance of increasing housing supply and improving housing affordability, but ensure a holistic approach in collaboration with provincial and municipal governments.
- Continue to pursue the doubling of housing starts to make up the 3.5-million-unit housing deficit.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Continue to lead collaboration with provincial and municipal levels of government to use all levers to improve housing affordability and increase housing supply.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
3. Continue and increase capacity to put out objective information and data about housing affordability and housing supply through CMHC and Statistics Canada.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Remove barriers to homeownership for first-time buyers
- Improve access to mortgages by fixing the stress test.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Adjust the Interest Act to facilitate 7- and 10-year mortgages and remove the stress test on them.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
3. Maintain 30-year amortizations for insured mortgages for new construction and first-time-buyers, and index the $1.5 million price cap with inflation annually.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
4. Increase Limits on First Home Savings Accounts
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
5. Improve construction financing to that builders can build more homes, including: directing OSFI to avoid further changes to OSFI B-20 guidelines and to step back from implementing Basel IV; implementing more CMHC Construction Financing for market-rate housing; and revisiting regulations that inhibit needed foreign investment in development.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Lower government-imposed costs that add to affordability challenges
1. Continue to work with municipalities and provinces, and use all federal levers, to reduce development taxes.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Address GST on new homes.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| What was proposed: Eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes at or under $1 million. | What was proposed: Remove the federal sales tax (GST) on new homes up to $1.3 million. | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: Allow to include all buyers of new homes; Increase limits to $1.5M and $2.0M in expensive markets; Index GST limits with inflation annually moving forward; Include all Accessory Dwelling Units and Secondary Suites as eligible for these new construction GST waivers, given they are new housing units; Implement for all new construction, not just first-time buyers. | How to get to a five-homes rating: Do not do so at the expense of infrastructure investment; Increase limits to $1.5M and $2.0M in expensive markets; Index GST limits with inflation annually moving forward; Include all Accessory Dwelling Units and Secondary Suites as eligible for these new construction GST waivers, given they are new housing units. | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
3. Lower the GST on renovations, including making Accessory Dwelling Units and Secondary Suites eligible for these new construction GST waivers, given they are new housing; making Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Energy Ready retrofits eligible as “substantial renovations” to
qualify for the GST/HST New Housing Rebate.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Support housing-supportive infrastructure
1. Maintain and increase housing-supportive infrastructure and transit investments and tie them to housing affordability and supply outcomes.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Work with provinces and municipalities to mandate that alternatives to development taxes be found and implemented so that development taxes are lowered.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Remove barriers & red tape within the home building process
1. Work with municipalities to support and/or require municipal process improvements tied to housing supply outcomes.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Put all federal legislation through a housing supply and affordability lens, including the small business lens and eliminate and avoid inappropriate federal
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Avoid adding costs through codes and regulations
1. Adopt affordability as a core objective of the National Building Code and all related standards
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Invest in innovation and R&D for lower or neutral-cost solutions and avoiding regulation until cost-neutral innovations are available.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
3. Establish a National Building Code Interpretation Centre to reduce inconsistencies in applying the building code
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
4. Provide incentives for Net Zero Ready Homes to reduce costs and accelerate technology development and adoption.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
5. Provide incentives for home energy retrofits in market-rate housing.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
CHBA’S RECOMMENDATION: Address labour shortages
1. Grow the domestic workforce through additional programming specific to the home building sector and encouraging more Canadians to choose a career in residential construction, supporting apprentices but also non-apprentice/non-union occupations that make up most of the sector.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
2. Update the immigration system to actually bring in the right workers for residential construction, which includes those who are in lower education/experience TEERs but that are able to contribute immediately to home construction.
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |
3. Support increased productivity through targeted programming, investment de-risking, and tax credits that can accelerate take-up of factory-built construction approaches (see www.chba.ca/SectorTransition for more).
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| Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform | Waiting for Platform |
| Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet | Campaign Pledge: None yet |
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| How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD | How to get to a five-homes rating: TBD |