Just a few nights ago, our newest Prime Minister scored his spot. Canadians all over the country are feeling many different emotions. Some are celebrating, some are relieved, and some are disappointed or angry. Regardless, we have new leadership in town and with a new government comes new housing policies. Today, let’s talk about the effects the Carney liberals will have on the various aspects of affordable living including the new plan for housing. We talked a bit about the various federal platforms before, but it’s especially important to dive into the liberal party a bit more now so we know what lays ahead.&nbsp;Some of us might be wondering what “build baby build” means. The liberal solution to the housing market is to increase the supply of affordable housing. Carney’s government plans to double the current building rate to build around 500,000 homes per year within the next decade. The government intends to use both the public and private sector to achieve this goal. Doing that, they plan to create Build Canada Homes, a government entity created specifically to Canada-wide home building. This entity plans to give $25 billion to “innovative prefabricated home builders in Canada, including those using Canadian technologies and resources like mass timber and softwood lumber, to build faster, smarter, more affordably, and more sustainably.” They also intend to give $10 billion to “affordable home builders.” Carney’s former company is heavily invested here.As you can probably already tell, the emphasis of the Carney housing plan is building. The Liberal government specifically says they intend to “cut red tape and make it easier to build.” Among other measures, this includes “reducing housing bureaucracy, zoning restrictions, and other red tape to have builders navigate one housing market instead of thirteen.”There are some tax related measures added onto the plan to build more homes. The Carney government also aims to make housing more affordable through scrapping GST. They plan to save Canadians up to $50,000 by eliminating GST for first time homebuyers of houses at or under $1 million. For builders and municipalities, Carney is offering tax incentives. They’re offering a tax incentive in home building called the Multiple Unit Rental Building Allowance, created for the intention of increasing rental inventory. Another tax incentive intends to increase the conversions of existing buildings into rental units. Their exact wording is “we will facilitate the conversion of existing structures into affordable housing units by reducing the tax liability for private owners of multi-purpose rentals when they sell their buildings to a non-profit operator, land trust, or non-profit acquisition fund- so long as the proceeds are reinvested in building new purpose-built rental housing.” The potential issue here is that while this will greatly impact affordability for renters, there is still a lot of room for tenants to get taken advantage of by landlords and still potentially blocking people from getting into the housing market as owners themselves.&nbsp;What do people think of this plan? There is no better place representing the court of public opinion than Reddit. One user says as a chief planner in Toronto, Carney’s housing plan gives him hope. (Government types love to plan, after all). Top 1% commenter said their city has followed the plan and removed “ridiculous zoning laws” thus allowing more building. Another 1% commenter said they’re skeptical but they hope they’re wrong. Other commenters are referring to Carney by using the name Trudeau. It seems that while some people feel very positive and optimistic, others are stuck in the thought process that Carney is just the same as Trudeau. They even share their odd penchant for costumes – Trudeau in whatever ethnic environment he’s in, Carney in hockey sweaters.All levels of government must move beyond treating housing as a revenue tool and start seeing it as critical national infrastructure. Without a shift in mindset—and fiscal priorities—Canada risks continuing the cycle of falling GDP, stagnating wages, and deepening inequality. The stakes are clear: bold plans are only as good as their execution, and Canadians deserve more than recycled promises in hockey sweaters.

PM Carney’s “Build Baby Build” Housing Plan: Ambition Meets Affordability Challenge

A closer look at Canada's new PM and his housing plan of government built homes and what it could mean for affordability.

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