2023-08-24 23:43:00
In the face of the “historic national housing crisis”, action must be taken on several fronts at the same time: increasing housing affordability, reducing construction costs, allowing the extension of the maximum amortization of mortgages and better financing social housing.
And everyone must push the wheel: federal, provincial and municipal, says the Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec (APCHQ) in a public outing while Ottawa is looking into the situation.
There are already shortages of housing and affordable housing. And the federal government wants to increase the immigration thresholds, which will increase the need. The APCHQ therefore urges the authorities to adopt several measures to ease the pressure.
In Quebec alone, more than 100,000 housing units of all types were missing by the end of 2021 in order to restore balance to the market, according to the APCHQ.
“According to our estimates, according to those of the CMHC [Société canadienne d’hypothèques et de logement] also, if we maintain the rate of residential construction that we have had in recent years, we are possibly heading, in Quebec, towards a deficit of 620,000 housing units by 2030″, underlined Paul Cardinal, director of the economy at the APCHQ, in an interview on Thursday.
Among other things, to reduce construction costs, the APCHQ proposes to improve the reimbursement of the GST for new housing and to completely exempt the construction of social and affordable housing from this tax. If Quebec adopted a similar measure with the QST, it would total 15%, argues Mr. Cardinal.
Also, the association recommends extending the maximum mortgage amortization period from 30 to 35 years for new energy-efficient homes in order to reduce monthly payments.
Similarly, the APCHQ suggests better financing the construction and renovation of social and affordable housing. The current housing stock is aging and needs to be renovated.
According to the association, to meet the anticipated demand, the pace of residential construction should be doubled, whereas it is currently experiencing a slowdown.
To see in video
1693172426
#act #quickly #historic #housing #crisis #Canada #pleads #APCHQ
