A $1.5 billion "Canada Rental Protection Fund" is coming later this year: Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the launch of the “Canada Rental Protection Fund” to help make “thousands of new affordable apartments” and protect affordable housing.
As a key measure in the 2024 budget, which will be tabled on April 16, the new funding program will provide $1 billion in loans and $470 million in contributions to non-profits and other partners to help them “acquire units and preserve rent prices in the long term.”
“We’re making the playing field fairer for renters. Through Budget 2024, we’re working with non-profits to protect affordable housing, preserve rent prices, and build thousands of new apartments. It’s simple – you should be able to live in the community you love, with a rent you can afford,” Trudeau said Thursday morning.
A release from the prime minister’s office stressed the need for every generation to get a fair chance to get ahead.
“Everyone deserves to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, your hard work isn’t paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque doesn’t go as far as costs go up, and saving enough seems harder and harder. It doesn’t have to be this way,” it reads.
The loans will be used to protect Canada’s most vulnerable renters.
For example, if an affordable rental building is up for sale, it can go to non-profits, community housing providers, and “the middle class” instead of being sold to a profiteer.
The Canada Rental Protection Fund will become available later this year.
“We need to make sure affordable housing stays affordable in Canada. The Canada Rental Protection Fund is going to help protect the affordable housing we have so Canadians can live in the communities they love,” said Sean Fraser, minister of housing, infrastructure and communities.
The Liberal government said this is one of many budgetary steps to “cut red tape” and build homes and communities.
A $15 billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program was announced in November last year. Earlier this week, the Canadian government announced a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund and a $400 million top-up to the Housing Accelerator Fund.
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