Trudeau visiting Hamilton Friday to talk up affordable housing plans in budget
CBC
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Hamilton this afternoon to talk up the affordable housing aspect of the federal budget.
And a local MP says Hamilton will provide key input into how some of that housing plan plays out.
Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will visit residents on the west Mountain and "make an announcement highlighting Budget 2022 investments in housing," Trudeau's office said in a media release. The announcement is expected at 1:30 p.m.
The visit comes a day after Freeland announced a budget that included a $10-billion investing in housing — much of it focused on boosting the supply of homes.
Of that money is $4 billion for a new "housing accelerator fund," which will allow municipalities to slash red tape and speed up housing developments. The government estimates this program will create 100,000 new units over the next five years.
Chad Collins, Liberal MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, says Hamilton officials who deal with planning and housing will present at a parliamentary committee next month to explain the city's needs.
"I'm very interested in this one because there are no parameters yet around how it will be invested," said Collins, a former city councillor and past president of CityHousing Hamilton. "There are suggestions."
"I want to see us get at that affordable housing wait list. That's at about 6,000 households [in Hamilton] and trending in the wrong direction."
Figures from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) show the average sale price for a residential property here in February was $1,104,163 — a record high.
Dan Muys, Conservative MP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, says the Liberal budget doesn't do enough to help with that.
"We need 110,000 homes in Hamilton, of all shapes and sizes, just to keep pace with demand," he said ahead of Trudeau's Hamilton visit.
Knocking on doors, "I heard it from their parents. 'My daughter and her husband make well over six figures and they can't even contemplate buying a home.'"
"Housing supply is the problem and this budget does not address that … None of these things are enough."
Without significant change, he said, "this isn't sustainable. Until we have more supply, we need to be firing on all cylinders."
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