New NDP-Liberal supply and confidence agreement outlines housing affordability priorities<\/a><\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\nOver two years, $150 million is proposed to support affordable housing and related infrastructure in Canada\u2019s northern communities. Beginning in 2024-2025, $562.2 million is proposed over two years for Infrastructure Canada to provide doubled annual funding for Reaching Home: Canada\u2019s Homelessness Strategy. Over the next three years, $62.2 million would be given to Infrastructure Canada, with support from Veterans Affairs Canada, to launch a new Veteran Homelessness Program.<\/p>\n
A total of $350 million is proposed over five years to Natural Resources Canada to develop the Canada Green Buildings Strategy and the Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative to support building code reform and support for retrofit audits.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut on housing, I would like to offer one caution: There is no one silver bullet which will immediately, once and forever, make every Canadian a homeowner in the neighbourhood where they want to live,\u201d said Minister Freeland.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Canada grows\u2014and as a growing Canada becomes more and more prosperous\u2014we will need to continue to invest, year after year after year, in building more homes for a growing country,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
New savings account announced for first home purchases<\/h3>\n
For those looking to save for down payment or create a secondary suite, new financial support has been proposed under the budget.<\/p>\n
Prospective homebuyers would be able to generate up to $40,000 in savings towards their first property through a proposed Tax-Free First Home Savings Account. Similar to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), contributions to the savings account would be tax-deductible. Withdrawals to purchase a first home would be non-taxable like a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA.)<\/p>\n
Over five years, the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account would provide $725 million in support, according to the 2022 budget.<\/p>\n
In 2022-2023, the budget has recommended $475 million in one-time $500 payment to those facing housing affordability challenges. The budget also proposes doubling the First-Time Home Buyers\u2019 Tax Credit to $10,000. This would offer up to $1,500 in support to home buyers and applied to homes bought on or after January 1st, 2022. The qualifying expense limit of the Home Accessibility Tax Credit would also be doubled to $20,000 for the 2022 and following tax years.<\/p>\n
Starting next year, a multi-generational home renovation tax credit would give up to $7,500 in financial support towards building a secondary suite for a senior or an adult with a disability. This refundable credit would allow families to claim 15 per cent of up to $50,000 in renovation and construction costs.<\/p>\n
Restrictions slated for anti-flipping and foreign ownership<\/h3>\n
Some of the policies and proposals outlined during the 2021 federal election were highlighted in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
The 2022 budget announced that the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion will \u201cengage with provinces and territories over the next year to develop and implement a Home Buyers\u2019 Bill of Rights.\u201d This includes plans to end blind bidding, ensure a legal right to a home inspection and provide home price transparency. This proposal was originally announced during the Liberal party\u2019s federal election campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe budget reinforced the federal government\u2019s intentions to propose restrictions on foreign home ownership, another policy floated during fall\u2019s election season. The policy would prohibit foreign commercial enterprises and non-Canadian citizens or permanent residents from acquiring non-recreational, residential property in the country for two years. Refugees and those authorized for emergency travel to Canada while fleeing international crises would be exempt.<\/p>\n
In this year\u2019s budget, new rules would be introduced so that anyone who sells a property that they\u2019ve held for less than 12 months would be subject to full taxation on their profits as business income. This would come into effect on residential properties sold on or after January 1st, 2023. Some exceptions would be made in certain circumstances, such as the birth of a child, a new job or death.<\/p>\n
All assignment sales of newly-constructed or substantially renovated residential housing would be taxable for GST\/HST purposes effective May 7th, 2022.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Photo:\u00a0emkaplin <\/a>\/ Adobe Stock<\/em><\/p>\n