A former Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation CEO who questioned Canadians’ attachment to homeownership and oversaw funding for research into taxing home equity has been tapped to chair the federal government’s newest housing agency.Blacklock's Reporter says Evan Siddall has been named chair of Build Canada Homes, with the federal government citing his experience in housing and finance.“Mr. Siddall brings deep housing, institutional finance and governance experience as former CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,” the government said in announcing the appointment.The statement did not mention Siddall’s previous comments about homeownership or controversy surrounding CMHC-funded research into a home equity tax.Siddall stepped down as CEO of the federal mortgage insurer in 2021. During a 2019 podcast appearance, he questioned Canadians’ traditional enthusiasm for owning their homes.“We’ve glorified this idea of home ownership, haven’t we?” Siddall said.When a podcast host said homeownership had become “a driving source of inequality in Canada,” Siddall replied: “For sure it has.”“The winners when house prices go down are people who want to get into the housing market,” Siddall said. “The losers are the people who have won so much already through the increase in house prices, the owners.”Siddall also faced controversy after Blacklock’s Reporter disclosed in 2020 that CMHC had agreed to provide $450,000 for research and promotion related to a home equity tax.Researchers at the University of British Columbia later published a 2022 report, Wealth And The Problems Of Housing Inequity Across Generations, proposing a tax that would raise an estimated $5.8 billion annually from homeowners.The report criticized what it called “windfalls gained by many homeowners while they sleep and watch TV.”.The proposal prompted an immediate backlash and was shelved by the federal government.“This is outrageous and out of touch,” then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole wrote on Twitter. “The family home is a bedrock of Canadian family saving.”Other Canadians responding online called the proposal “disgusting” and “just awful.”“My wife and I worked very hard to buy our house,” wrote one user.“Not a chance in hell,” wrote another.Siddall denied that he had advocated for a home equity tax and sharply criticized Blacklock’s reporting on the issue, describing it as “horrible,” “poor,” “untrue,” “inaccurate,” “substandard,” “argumentative” and “a non-story.”“I was accused of lying, in fact, and a media cover-up on this,” Siddall told the Commons finance committee during farewell testimony in 2021.“The question of tax policy is not for us. It is for Finance Canada.”However, internal records subsequently obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation showed Siddall contacted the University of British Columbia about studying taxation.“Before COVID-19, housing costs had shot higher than many could afford,” read a memo titled A Place To Call Home Or An Investment Vehicle?“Why? In part because we allowed them to, knowing many Canadians bank on profits from home ownership.”Siddall also drew scrutiny for an ambitious housing affordability target he outlined in 2019.“By 2030 our aim is that everyone in Canada has a home they can afford and that meets their needs,” Siddall told the Senate national finance committee.“This is CMHC’s aspirational goal,” he added. “It is absolutely an aspirational goal and a bit of a moon shot.”.His successor at CMHC later pushed back against the idea the Crown corporation was responsible for solving Canada’s housing affordability crisis.“It is very sad, what is happening in the country, and that people can’t afford the homes they need,” CMHC CEO Coleen Volk told the Commons public accounts committee on Sept. 25.“I don’t agree that it is CMHC’s responsibility to solve that.”
