Can Canada really build 3.9 million homes by 2031?

In today’s The Big Story podcast, by far the biggest part of the federal budget is an ambitious plan that the Liberal government claims will not only hit the targeted estimate of homes Canada needs, but will blow right past it. You’d be forgiven some skepticism, since the prime minister stated less than a year ago that housing “isn’t a primary federal responsibility.” 

“There was a lot of backlash from Canadians at that point. The government started dropping in the polls right around the same time. It’s hard to connect the dots, but I think there is a relationship there,” said Mike Moffatt. He’s the senior director of policy and innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute and an assistant professor in the business, economics and public policy group at Ivey Business School at Western University.  

But politics aside, what’s in this plan? How exactly does the government think it can hit its targets? What does one of the country’s leading housing policy analysts think of those solutions? What’s in this plan that will or won’t solve the housing crisis in the next decade? And what’s in it to help people afford homes right now?

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