A federal agency overseeing surplus government land has helped launch just 13,000 new homes in nearly a decade, according to a recent government memo — far short of the nearly 4 million homes Ottawa says are needed to restore affordability by 2030, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
The memo, prepared by the Department of Public Works and dated December 12, credited the Canada Lands Company, a Crown corporation, with facilitating those housing starts since 2016. It added that another 16,200 homes are expected to follow by 2030.
In total, the agency is projected to help build about 52,200 homes — roughly 1.3% of the 3.87 million units federal officials say are needed to bring the housing market back into balance. The memo, included in the government’s Supplementary Estimates (B), did not explain how the remaining gap would be closed.
The federal government has vowed to repurpose underused real estate in its vast property portfolio, which includes some 32,000 buildings and large swaths of public land. Last year, former prime minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would move quickly to open these spaces up for housing.
“This is an ambitious plan that meets the moment,” Trudeau said on April 24, 2024. “Right now, governments across Canada are sitting on surplus, underused, and vacant public lands.”
An inventory tabled in Parliament later revealed many of those assets were unsuitable for housing, including a cattle barn in Brandon, MB, an old penitentiary in Kingston, ON, and several boat sheds in Cape Breton, NS.
Other listings included Parks Canada parking lots, a former military firing range in Quebec, landlocked urban lots, and remote patches near lighthouses and airstrips in Atlantic Canada.
“We are unlocking this land for construction and building thousands of new homes,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. “We are cutting red tape, building more homes, and making the housing market fairer for every generation.”
