Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was warned in June 2022 by Secretary of the Cabinet Janice Charette that his immigration policy since taking office in 2015 triggered Canada’s housing affordability crisis..Charette, appointed by Trudeau less than a month earlier, directly blamed him for Canada’s escalating housing prices and severe housing shortage..Trudeau’s response was to ignore the warning and announce that he would bring in more immigrants. .He also blamed the provinces for not “stepping up” to fix the housing problem..“The purpose of this note is to provide you with an analytic summary of the report’s findings,” wrote Charette in a classified memorandum Report by Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation: Canada’s Housing Supply Shortage, obtained by The Counter Signal..The memo was sent directly to Trudeau..“There is broad agreement among experts that homebuilding has been insufficient in comparison with housing demand in recent years, particularly with the increase in immigration since 2015.” .The memo states that Canada’s housing supply shortage is the “key factor” causing the affordability crisis and the pace of building homes cannot meet needs by 2030 to restore affordability..“CHMC projects that the housing stock will grow by approximately 2.3 million between 2021 and 2030, and, when it incorporates economic factors alongside demographic factors, it projects that an additional 3.5 million additional housing units are needed beyond current projections to restore affordability.” .The memo said that the 223,000 units built in 2021 fell short of the estimated yearly 665,000 required “which would be significantly more ambitious” than the 3.5 million units the federal government budgeted for in 2022..The total build requirements stand at 5.8 million units..Two-thirds of the housing supply gap are in BC and Ontario..But in November, Trudeau announced his 2023-2025 steadily increasing immigration targets — 465,000 in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025..That’s on top of a historic 431,645 level of permanent residents in 2022 and higher than the previous 401,000 record set in 2021..Last month in Hamilton, on the site of an apartment complex under construction, Trudeau deflected responsibility for Canada’s housing woes to the provinces and territories..“I’ll be blunt as well — housing isn’t a federal responsibility. It’s not something that we have direct carriage of,” he said. .“But it is something that we can and must help with,” he said..He said the Hamilton mayor and the Ontario government were not doing enough..“They need to be stepping up as well, particularly on affordable housing. That is something that the federal government is taking very seriously, but we need all of us to be working together on, and that's what we're here to continue to do.”.Canada’s Housing and Infrastructure minister is on board with Trudeau..Sean Fraser, who served as Immigration minister, recently said that bringing in fewer immigrants is not the solution. .“But I would urge caution to anyone who believes the answer to our housing challenges is to close the door on newcomers,” he said..Building more homes is the answer, he said. And newcomers will alleviate the 6.5% labour shortage reported in early 2022 that developers claim is “one of the chief obstacles to completing” projects, including building houses..According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average housing price stands at more than $700,000..Currently, the average home costs 8.8 times the average Canadian income. In Toronto it’s at 13.2 times, and in Vancouver 14.4. .Trudeau has been under fire from opposition Conservatives, provincial and municipal politicians, builders, housing advocates and worried Canadians about an explosive housing crisis rippling across Canada..READ MORE Poilievre corrects Trudeau, housing is federal responsibility.Last month, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took issue with Trudeau’s denial that housing is a primary federal responsibility..He argued that local governments do not have the revenue capacity to adequately address the affordable or social housing problem..“To some extent, people do look toward the federal government mainly because it's the level of government with the greatest fiscal powers,” he said..Poilievre reminded Trudeau of his promise eight years ago that he would lower housing prices, but instead has more than doubled them..“No wonder he wants to wash his hands of his horrendous and unprecedented record.”.“I have been saying that housing costs had doubled under Justin Trudeau. It's now far worse than that,” he said..“The average mortgage payment has gone from $1,400, the day that Trudeau promised he would make housing affordable, to $3,500. That's two and a half times higher. This is the fastest increase in mortgage payment costs in the history of Canada and by far.”.Poilievre noted that it would worsen as mortgages renew at higher interest rates predicted over the next two years.. Trudeau Leaked Memo 1 . Trudeau Leaked Memo 2 . Trudeau Leaked Memo 3 . Trudeau Leaked Memo 4
