How Canada’s Federal Parties Plan to Tackle the Housing Crisis in 2025

Housing affordability and supply are top issues in Canada’s upcoming federal election, with each major party proposing distinct solutions. As home prices and rents soar, political parties are outlining platforms to improve affordability for homeowners and renters. Below is a neutral, comprehensive summary of the housing policies and mandates from all major federal parties – Liberal, Conservative, New Democratic Party (NDP), Green, Bloc Québécois, and People’s Party of Canada (PPC) – ahead of the election. Key themes include support for first-time buyers, measures to boost housing supply, rental market regulations, foreign buyer restrictions, and efforts to address homelessness. This overview is national in scope and geared toward a mortgage-focused audience, highlighting how each party plans to tackle Canada’s housing crisis.

Liberal Party of Canada (Liberal)

Approach: The Liberals, led by Mark Carney (incumbent Prime Minister), emphasize direct incentives for homebuyers and investments to expand housing supply, building on programs from their 2017 National Housing Strategy. Their platform focuses on making home ownership more attainable while increasing the supply of affordable homes and supporting vulnerable populations. Key Liberal housing commitments include:

• First-Time Homebuyer Incentives: Eliminate the GST (Goods and Services Tax) on newly built homes valued under $1 million for first-time buyers, saving up to $50,000 per qualifying home purchase​yukon-news.com​globalnews.ca. (Currently, GST is 5% on new homes, with a partial rebate on homes <$450k.) The Liberals enacted a Tax-Free First Home Savings Account and extended insured mortgage amortizations to 30 years (from 25) for first-time buyers of new builds, to lower monthly payments​globalnews.ca​globalnews.ca. They promise to maintain the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit (recently doubled to $10,000) to help with closing costs. A proposed Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights would ban blind bidding and ensure legal protections like home inspections (continuing a 2021 commitment). These measures aim to ease entry into homeownership for young Canadians.
• Housing Supply and Development: Pledge an ambitious expansion of housing construction – 4 million new homes by 2035 – through federal funding and partnerships​mpamag.com. The Liberals will preserve the Housing Accelerator Fund, a multi-billion dollar program that incentivizes municipalities to speed up approvals and zoning changes for projects​mpamag.com. They plan to invest in affordable housing and rental units via the National Housing Strategy, including supporting non-profits, co-ops, and Indigenous housing. The Liberal platform continues a goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2030, with funding for supportive housing and the Rapid Housing Initiative (which finances quick-build affordable units). Carney has signaled “a series of new measures to increase housing supply” will be rolled out, building on programs like the National Housing Co-Investment Fund​yukon-news.com.
• Rental Market and Affordability: The Liberals support expanding the Canada Housing Benefit (a rent-assistance program with provinces) to help low-income renters, and they introduced a one-time $500 rent top-up in 2022. They propose encouraging construction of rental units by removing GST on new purpose-built rental projects – a policy enacted in late 2023 to spur apartment development. They also plan to work with provinces on protecting tenants (while respecting provincial jurisdiction over rent control). Investments in social housing (including a $20 billion social infrastructure plan) are intended to ensure “housing is a human right” in practice.
• Foreign Buyers and Speculation: To curb speculative demand, the Liberal government implemented a two-year ban on home purchases by foreign non-residents (effective January 2023 to 2025) and a 1% annual tax on vacant residential properties owned by non-Canadians​globalnews.ca. They also introduced an “anti-flipping” tax (treating gains on homes held <12 months as business income) to deter short-term flipping. Carney has pledged to cancel a previously proposed increase to the capital gains tax on investments (which was debated under Trudeau) to avoid disincentivizing property sales​mpamag.com​mpamag.com. Overall, the Liberals favor targeted tax measures to limit speculation while boosting supply, rather than radical market restrictions.

(Sources: Liberal platform announcements and press releases​

yukon-news.com

​

mpamag.com

; National Housing Strategy updates​

globalnews.ca

.)

Conservative Party of Canada (Conservative)

Approach: The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, frame Canada’s housing woes as a supply-and-government barrier problem. Their platform “Building Homes, Not Bureaucracy” centers on aggressively boosting home construction by cutting red tape and using federal levers to force more building. They also propose tax cuts to reduce costs for buyers. The Conservative housing plan’s major points include:

• Homeownership and Tax Relief: Axe the GST on new homes up to $1.3 million (primary residences, any buyer) to immediately lower prices​globalnews.ca. This goes further than the Liberal plan by covering all homebuyers (not just first-timers) and a higher price cap ($1.3M vs $1M). The party claims this tax removal will save buyers as much as $65,000 on an average home in expensive markets and reduce mortgage payments by ~$3,000 annually​yukon-news.com. They estimate it could stimulate construction of ~36,000 additional homes per year by making projects more viable​yukon-news.com. The Conservatives would pay for this by canceling roughly $8 billion in Liberal housing programs they deem ineffective “bureaucratic schemes”​yukon-news.com. They have also proposed extending mortgage amortizations to 30 years for first-time buyers (a measure the Liberals later adopted) and allowing 7–10 year fixed-rate mortgages to give buyers more flexibility. Additionally, a Poilievre government would restore the full $5,000 Home Buyers’ Tax Credit (which Liberals doubled) and scrap the Liberal First-Time Home Buyer shared-equity program, preferring direct tax relief over equity-sharing.
• Increasing Housing Supply (“Build, Baby, Build”): The Conservatives promise to “unleash the biggest homebuilding boom ever”​mpamag.com by removing “gatekeepers” and accelerating approvals. A signature policy is to tie federal funding for cities to homebuilding targets​conservative.ca. Cities with expensive housing would be required to increase housing starts by at least 15% annually, or else face reductions in federal infrastructure transfers​conservative.ca. Conversely, municipalities that exceed targets would receive bonus funding as a reward. Poilievre vows to make transit and infrastructure dollars conditional on zoning higher-density housing around transit stations and freeing up land for development​conservative.ca. The plan also involves selling at least 15% of federal government real estate (e.g. underused offices, land) to convert to housing​ndp.ca​ndp.ca. Unlike the Liberals, the Conservatives would scrap the Housing Accelerator Fund, reallocating its funds to trade skills training and other incentives (they argue the fund adds bureaucracy). Instead, they’d fast-track approvals federally and push provinces and cities to streamline building permits. The goal is to dramatically increase supply, especially in high-demand urban areas, by “building homes, not bureaucracy.”
• Rental Market and Social Housing: The Conservative platform is less focused on direct rental assistance or public housing, emphasizing that boosting overall supply will improve rental availability. They propose to encourage private investment in rental housing by easing financing and reducing regulatory costs. For instance, they support extending the GST removal to developers of purpose-built rentals (to lower construction costs), and easing CMHC lending rules for rental projects. While the Conservatives have not highlighted new federal affordable housing programs, they pledge support for charities and private entities that build affordable units. They also propose to partner with Indigenous and community groups to build housing on a needs basis. The general philosophy is that more market housing at all levels will free up affordable units (filtering effect) and reduce competition that drives up rents.
• Foreign Ownership and Speculation: Poilievre has blamed foreign investment and speculative activity for some price increases. The Conservatives support a ban on foreign non-resident home purchases (they advocated a 2-year ban similar to what Liberals enacted) and would consider extending it if needed. They also propose measures to curb money laundering in real estate (enforcing transparency on beneficial ownership). On domestic speculation, Poilievre has criticized the Liberal anti-flipping tax as too lenient and indicates he’d enforce anti-speculation rules to prevent quick flips that distort prices. However, the party opposes taxes that hit ordinary investors (they strongly reject any increase to the capital gains tax on housing or investments). The focus is on inflating housing supply rather than taxing demand: “We have a housing crisis because we’re not building enough homes,” Poilievre argues, so his plan concentrates on construction over new buyer taxes​conservative.ca.

(Sources: Conservative platform release and press statements​

conservative.ca

​

yukon-news.com

; Poilievre’s Building Homes, Not Bureaucracy plan.)

New Democratic Party (NDP)

Approach: Led by Jagmeet Singh, the NDP advocates for bold federal action to treat housing as a human right, not a commodity. Their platform emphasizes massive investments in affordable housing (non-market housing), tenant protections, and curbing speculative practices. The NDP accuses past Liberal and Conservative governments of failing to build enough affordable homes and vows to directly intervene to create housing for those in need. Key elements of the NDP housing plan include:

• Affordable Housing Construction: Launch a major building program for 500,000 affordable homes over 10 years, with an immediate target to kick-start 100,000 units of rent-controlled housing by 2035 on federal lands​globalnews.ca. Singh’s campaign began with a pledge to unlock all suitable federal Crown land for housing development, dedicating 100% of available federal land to building new homes​ndp.ca​ndp.ca. To achieve this, an NDP government would double the federal Public Land Acquisition Fund (adding $1 billion over 5 years) to buy more land for housing​yukon-news.com​yukon-news.com. They propose a new Community Housing Development Bank to finance construction by nonprofits, cooperatives, and Indigenous communities​ndp.ca. The NDP would also directly invest in social housing and co-ops, reviving the federal role in housing supply that existed prior to the 1990s. These publicly funded or subsidized homes would be kept affordable long-term (e.g. through covenants to ensure rents geared to income).
• Faster Approvals & Workforce: To speed construction, the NDP plan would streamline federal approval processes (environmental reviews, etc.) on federal lands and incentivize quick housing project approvals at other levels​ndp.ca. Singh also promises to train 100,000 new skilled trades workers (including opportunities for local workers, immigrants, and those displaced by economic changes) to address labor shortages in construction​mpamag.com​ndp.ca. Projects would use Project Labour Agreements to ensure fair wages and community benefits​ndp.ca. The idea is to ensure Canada has the carpenters, electricians, and builders needed to ramp up housing production while providing good jobs.
• Tenant Protections & Rental Affordability: The NDP heavily focuses on renters’ needs. They would push for stricter rent control (working with provinces) and offer direct federal support to renters. For example, the NDP has proposed an immediate rent subsidy or assistance for those spending an unsustainable portion of income on rent (building on the one-time $500 aid they championed in 2022). Singh also vows to tackle corporate landlords and financialization of rental housing: he frequently criticizes large real estate investment trusts (REITs) and corporate owners for driving up rents. The NDP would regulate corporate landlords to prevent renovictions and excessive rent hikes. They propose to expand the federal vacancy tax and anti-flipping tax, and introduce higher taxes on house flippers and speculators, especially foreign investors who leave properties vacant​mpamag.com. “Homes should be for people, not big investors,” Singh argues, indicating the NDP would penalize those who treat housing purely as a speculative asset. Additionally, the party plans to strengthen tenants’ rights and create a fund for non-profits to purchase at-risk rental buildings to keep them affordable.
• Homelessness and Supportive Housing: The NDP would declare housing and homelessness a national emergency. They commit to ending chronic homelessness and would invest in supportive housing with wrap-around services. Emergency measures like a rent arrears assistance fund and an eviction moratorium (especially during crises like the pandemic) have been proposed by the NDP in the past​greenparty.ca​greenparty.ca. Singh’s platform includes boosting the Canada Housing Benefit and working closely with provinces and cities to fund shelters, transitional housing, and mental health supports to get people off the streets. An NDP government would recognize housing as a legal human right in Canada’s laws, ensuring accountability for meeting housing need.

(Sources: NDP campaign announcement in Montreal​

globalnews.ca

; NDP official platform release​

ndp.ca

​

mpamag.com

.)

Green Party of Canada (Green)

Approach: The Greens, led by co-leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault, propose treating the housing crisis as an emergency and dramatically expanding non-market housing. Their platform positions housing as a fundamental human right and calls for strong government intervention to ensure affordability. The Green Party’s housing plan highlights include:

• Public Housing Boom: “Launch the biggest public housing construction program since the 1970s,” creating hundreds of thousands of affordable units​globalnews.ca. The Greens want the federal government back in the business of building housing on a large scale. They would directly fund and build energy-efficient social housing, cooperatives, and nonprofit housing, with a focus on sustainability and community design. The party has not put a specific unit target publicly, but the scale is meant to be transformative. This expansion would create local jobs and use Canadian-made green building materials, aligning with their climate goals.
• Define and Ensure True Affordability: The Greens note that current “affordable housing” programs often still produce units too expensive for average incomes. They pledge to redefine “affordable” as housing that costs no more than 30% of a household’s income​greenparty.ca. Any project receiving public funds would have to meet this standard. They also advocate long-term affordability: use covenants to ensure any publicly funded housing remains affordable forever (i.e. it cannot be later sold at market rates)​greenparty.ca. This would stop the loss of affordable units over time.
• Stronger Regulations & Ending Predatory Practices: The Green Party would “strengthen housing market regulations”​greenparty.ca​globalnews.ca to rein in speculation and profiteering. They promise to stop corporations from buying up low-density homes (particularly single-family houses) that could be owned by families​greenparty.ca​greenparty.ca. They would eliminate tax loopholes and subsidies that benefit large corporate landlords or Real Estate Investment Trusts – for example, ending special tax treatment for REITs to ensure they pay their fair share​greenparty.ca. The Greens also emphasize cracking down on money laundering in real estate by closing loopholes that allow illicit funds to inflate housing prices​greenparty.ca. Overall, their policies put “people before profits,” aiming to curb speculative forces and keep housing stock in the hands of residents, not investors.
• Rental Support and Homelessness: The Greens would declare a national housing affordability and homelessness emergency​greenparty.ca to galvanize action. In the short term, they have called for a national moratorium on residential evictions (especially during emergencies like COVID-19) and a rent arrears assistance program to prevent anyone from being made homeless due to pandemic-related back rent​greenparty.ca​greenparty.ca. They support increasing the Canada Housing Benefit and other income supports so people can afford rent. The Green platform also highlights providing supportive housing with mental health and addiction services to tackle homelessness at its roots. As an immediate step, they would work to remove homeless encampments by providing safe, dignified housing options for those currently unhoused. The party frames housing as essential infrastructure for a healthy society and pledges to work with all levels of government to ensure every Canadian has a safe, affordable place to live.

(Sources: Green Party website statements​

globalnews.ca

​

greenparty.ca

; Green petition on homelessness emergency​

greenparty.ca

.)

Bloc Québécois (Bloc)

Approach: The Bloc Québécois, led by Yves-François Blanchet, centers its platform on Quebec’s interests and jurisdiction. Housing for the Bloc is largely a provincial domain; thus, their focus is on securing federal support for Quebec-driven housing solutions. The Bloc generally supports measures to increase affordable housing as long as they respect Quebec’s autonomy. Key points related to housing from the Bloc include:

• Respect Provincial Jurisdiction & Funding: The Bloc insists that Ottawa should provide funding for housing directly to provinces (or to Quebec) with no strings attached, allowing Quebec to manage its own housing programs. They want increases in federal transfers for affordable housing and for the National Housing Strategy funding to be tailored to Quebec’s needs. The Bloc often negotiates for lump-sum investments that Quebec can use for social housing, co-ops, or rent supplements, under provincial control.
• Utilize Federal Assets for Housing in Quebec: While the Bloc has not released a detailed 2025 housing platform at the time of writing​globalnews.ca, Blanchet has in the past called on the federal government to turn over surplus federal lands and properties in Quebec for affordable housing developments and co-operative housing​globalnews.ca. This aligns with other parties’ ideas but with an emphasis that Quebec should administer those projects. For example, if the federal government has unused real estate in Montreal or Quebec City, the Bloc wants it transferred to help build social housing or community housing under Quebec’s programs.
• Affordable Housing and Co-ops: The Bloc supports increasing the supply of low-income and co-operative housing in Quebec. They advocate for more federal money to flow into initiatives like AccèsLogis Québec (Quebec’s affordable housing program) and co-op housing federations. In Parliament, Bloc MPs have pushed for tax incentives for builders of affordable units and for indexing federal housing spending to better reflect rising construction costs. Blanchet’s messaging frames the Bloc as “defenders of Quebec’s renters and homebuyers” by demanding Ottawa do more financially while letting Quebec take the lead on program design.
• Other Measures: The Bloc Québécois has signaled agreement with certain federal measures, such as taxing foreign buyers or curbing speculation, provided provinces can opt out or have equivalent measures. They generally supported the two-year foreign buyer ban and urged that if extended, provinces like Quebec have a say in exemptions. The Bloc also emphasizes broader cost-of-living solutions (like increasing seniors’ pensions and provincial aid) to indirectly help with housing affordability. In essence, the Bloc’s stance is that Ottawa’s role in housing should be to financially empower Quebec (and provinces) to address the crisis as they see fit, rather than running nationwide programs that encroach on provincial jurisdiction.

(Sources: Past Bloc policy statements​

globalnews.ca

; Blanchet’s press releases on housing and cost of living.)

People’s Party of Canada (PPC)

Approach: The PPC, led by Maxime Bernier, takes a markedly different view on housing. They attribute the housing affordability crisis largely to excess demand fueled by mass immigration and easy money. The PPC platform opposes heavy government intervention in the housing market; instead, it calls for reducing demand and allowing the free market to adjust. Key planks of the PPC housing policy include:

• Freeze Immigration to Cool Demand: The PPC argues that record immigration levels have dramatically increased housing demand, outpacing supply​peoplespartyofcanada.ca​peoplespartyofcanada.ca. Their solution is to sharply curtail immigration until housing supply catches up. A PPC government would impose a moratorium on new permanent residents for a number of years “as necessary until the housing crisis has cooled down,” and afterwards accept far fewer immigrants annually (target range 100,000–150,000, down from ~465,000 in 2023)​peoplespartyofcanada.ca. This controversial stance is aimed at relieving pressure on housing and infrastructure. The PPC also ties this to cultural integration, but fundamentally they see lowering immigration as a “common-sense” way to reduce competition for homes and rentals. (Note: All other major parties support high immigration with recent modest adjustments; the PPC is unique in calling for an immigration freeze as a housing measure.)
• End Federal Housing Programs and Market Interventions: The PPC believes federal housing programs and regulations have backfired. They assert that institutions like the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and policies like mortgage stress tests have “distorted the housing market”​peoplespartyofcanada.ca. Bernier’s platform would privatize or dismantle CMHC entirely​peoplespartyofcanada.ca, claiming that CMHC’s insurance and mandates encouraged Canadians to take on excessive mortgages and enabled government interference. The PPC would also repeal federal incentives like first-time buyer grants or home retrofit grants, contending that government involvement only drives prices higher. In their view, returning to a free-market in housing finance and development will eventually restore affordability by removing artificial demand stimulus. They also oppose federal pressure on municipalities to densify; the PPC says local zoning should be respected without Ottawa using funding to force high-density projects​peoplespartyofcanada.ca.
• Monetary Policy and Inflation: A unique angle in the PPC platform is blaming the Bank of Canada’s easy money policies for housing inflation. They note that low interest rates and money printing (quantitative easing) led to soaring housing prices. To counter this, the PPC would change the Bank of Canada’s mandate to target 0% inflation (down from 2%)​peoplespartyofcanada.ca. In theory, this would keep interest rates higher and limit inflation in asset prices like real estate. While not a direct housing policy, this reflects the PPC’s broader economic approach to address affordability by ensuring a stable currency and avoiding asset bubbles.
• Foreign Buyers and Money Laundering: The PPC opposes unrestricted foreign buying of Canadian real estate, especially when used to park illicit money. They pledge to work with provinces to curb foreign non-resident purchases and crack down on money laundering in property markets​peoplespartyofcanada.ca. This could include tighter screening of overseas investors and supporting provincial taxes or bans on foreign buyers. However, the PPC criticizes the Liberal foreign-buyer ban as insufficient, arguing that as long as domestic demand (fueled by immigration and low interest rates) is high, prices will remain out of reach. They do not propose additional taxes on Canadian speculators, preferring that market forces correct prices.

In summary, the PPC’s housing solution is to reduce demand (fewer immigrants, stricter money supply) and let the market build the necessary supply without federal meddling. Their platform does not include new programs for affordable housing or rentals; instead, they insist that removing government barriers and demand pressures will naturally lead to more affordable housing over time as the market adjusts.

(Sources: PPC official policy statement on housing​

peoplespartyofcanada.ca

​

peoplespartyofcanada.ca

​

peoplespartyofcanada.ca

; PPC platform document.)