Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff promises national housing strategy

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says his party will develop a national housing strategy before the next federal election.

In a scrum with reporters following a meeting with 175 Liberals in a downtown Vancouver hotel, the Opposition leader said that his party's housing policy will be "fiscally responsible and get the job done".

“We had a lot of excellent suggestions from municipal officials, from people who run co-op housing, from veterans in the field," Ignatieff said. "We got out of affordable housing in 1993, [which] we shouldn’t have done."

In 1993, the Liberal government led by Jean Chretien stopped funding the construction of affordable housing.

Ignatieff said he didn't want to provide details about what might be involved in a national housing strategy until he has heard more input on the issue.

However, he acknowledged that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (which he called "Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation") must start "incentivizing" the construction of affordable housing.

"The other thing is to look at the tax code," Ignatieff added. "Are there ways we can incentivize people who construct apartment dwellings, give them a capital gain rollover if they build more housing? That kind of thing. Those are the ideas that we are working on at the moment."

He said that as he was coming into Vancouver last night on the Canada Line, he asked two passengers in their 20s what it was like living in Vancouver.

"They said, 'It’s great, but the housing is just killing us'," he recalled. "These were bright able young people who were saying, 'We’re spending 60 to 70 percent of our income on housing.' Well, that’s a choke chain on the Lower Mainland economy."

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

Comments

9 Comments

here we go

Jun 20, 2010 at 5:08pm

Ignatieff says housing is killing us. I look at what the Liberals have brought us. Everything they do is to control us and take our rights away. I can only guess what what they are up to. Just think 60 to 70 % of our income on housing and the rest on TAXES!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot STAND THAT GUY!!!!!!!!!!!

Capndan

Jun 20, 2010 at 9:09pm

175 Liberals in one place, in Vancouver? Must have been mostly media from Toronto/Ottawa.

Ah

Jun 20, 2010 at 9:11pm

How about government funded affordable rental housing for people with full time employment? Doesn't seem like that crazy of a concept.

Wow

Jun 20, 2010 at 10:15pm

A bit of lip service from a gutless party, but the positive effect of this is it has the potential of generating more lip service from a less gutless party until a flash in the pan politician presents a private member's bill.

I'm curious if he'd still support it if he realized "affordable housing" means the same square footage as a parking space that low income folks get to call home.

Sorry, Igg - even you can't fix this.

old phoot

Jun 20, 2010 at 11:26pm

bahhahahaahhaha...so iggypoop is sucking up out west again. I think he has some kind of dream that He count iggula will be the liberal that finally makes a breakthru in the west.He figures the westerners are all a bunch of inbred hillbillies that can easyly be swayed by a slick intellectual.Sorry iggy it ain't gonna happen. GO HOME

dgkfhkfhjfhkfkja

Jun 20, 2010 at 11:27pm

ah:

"How about government funded affordable rental housing for people with full time employment? Doesn't seem like that crazy of a concept. "

i fully recognize that this is slightly naive, but if affordable housing for students and seniors pops up at a greater rate than seniors start moving into affordable housing then the number of apartments on the "free" market should increase and the demand should decrease, possibly even creating an excess supply of apartments. so long as nothing funny happens at the top of the food chain to prevent it, that should drive down the price of rent as renters slash their prices to try and fill their apartments.

so, you could very well see rent on the "free" market decrease as a result of such an initiative. but, whether that actually happens, or i'm being too naive, etc...

personally, i like this idea.

Real economics

Jun 21, 2010 at 1:18am

If iggy is serious about providing affordable housing to vancouverites, he should
1) shut down the cmhc. They have been providing cheap financing to people who otherwise would've gotten refused by banks (or only obtained much smaller loans @ higher rates from banks).
2) impose capital controls on residential properties to stop foreigners from speculating in our housing market like what they are trying to do in Australia.

Then, you may not need to build affordable rental stock, as younger people can just get into the regular housing market. Oh, what a concept!

Cmhc has been providing cheap financing to people who otherwise be refused by banks!

RodSmelser

Jun 21, 2010 at 10:17am

From the article:

"These were bright able young people who were saying, 'We’re spending 60 to 70 percent of our income on housing.' Well, that’s a choke chain on the Lower Mainland economy."
======================================

I agree 100%. It's an understatement.

But unfortunately many Vancouver voters and their political representatives at all levels look on Vancouver's exhorbidant real estate prices as a sign of achievement, a mark of distinction. There's no doubt that people who got into the market some time ago have been enriched by these non-taxable capital gains. There are hundreds of thousands of Lower Mainland property owners who could not possibly afford to buy their own homes with their present or expected incomes.

Any change in public policy, from whatever level of government, that treatened those gains by reducing the market price of housing will be vigorously resisted, and the critiques will all be offered up in various "green" or "urbanist" terms. No one is going to come out and say in so many words, "I am opposed because it would cost me some damage to my net worth statement!"

Rod Smelser

Birdy

Jun 21, 2010 at 12:19pm

Ignatieff and Harper are actually working together on a national housing strategy.

They're called private prisons, and they're run by international corporations.

So which artificially flavored derivative of Paul Desmarais' Powercorp shall we vote for this election?

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