So, our budget this year is about building an economy that is fair for everyone. And one of the things that really doesn’t feel very fair these days is the price of housing. It used to be that if you worked hard at a good job, you could afford a roof over your head.

After decades of a lack of investment and inaction at all levels of government, the middle class feels as though it’s impossible to find affordable housing. This situation is unacceptable! It has to change, and the best way to lower prices is to build more homes.

That’s why our government is stepping up to build homes faster than we have in generations. As a federal government, we’ve been taking leadership and making those generational investments to incentivize and support more supply. Housing gets built when every order of government steps up and our private sector and non-profit partners have the right incentives to get shovels in the ground. Well, today we’re announcing that upcoming budget 2024 will invest in a new initiative we’re calling Canada Builds. Canada Builds is going to turbo charge affordable apartment construction in partnership with provinces and territories. It’ll provide low-cost loans, help speed up development, and build projects at the scale necessary to meet the urgent needs of Canadians.

Let me walk through the details. We’re going to make a massive injection of funding into our existing Apartment Construction Loan Program, another $15 billion available, and we’re going to make the entire pot of funding available for matching partnerships with provinces and territories who come to the table with ambitious and fair housing plans, plans that get homes built quickly and at scale, plans that build the right housing for the right places, whether low-rise or high-rise, one-bedroom or multi-bedrooms, and plans that meet the existing expectations that this fund help build apartments that the middle class can afford: housing built for hardworking nurses, teachers, first responders, and even the very construction workers that will help get these units built.

And we’re also going to make innovative reforms to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, reforms that will expand access to these funds so we can meet the needs of Canadians at every age, whether young families, students or seniors. That’ll help us fast-track the application process for proven builders. It’ll encourage getting projects built on a bigger scale. These reforms will help make the math work for builders and speed up construction. Canada Builds is itself based off an idea that British Columbia came up with, and it’s an idea that is fundamentally practical and fundamentally fair. Where provinces and territories show leadership – our government is ready to partner. And today we want to scale that ambition up right across the country.

Today, we’re announcing the Canada Builds initiative, which will help build affordable homes across the country. This initiative will help partners build more rental housing, partners such as governments, builders, developers, and non-profit organizations. Through our Apartment Construction Loan Program, we will establish partnerships with provinces and territories and provide low-cost loans. And we’ll reform the program to fund more homes for seniors, students, and families. We will ensure the construction of apartments with affordable rents that meet the needs of every generation. And for housing in Quebec, we will, of course, continue working in partnership with the province.

Canada Builds initiates new levels of ambition with provinces and territories and incentivizes builders, all to get more homes built for the middle class faster. And we need this from coast to coast to coast and communities of every side. Canada is a big country, and when we take a Team Canada approach, there is no challenge too big.

By working together, we can build affordable homes that meet the needs of our growing country. We can build homes that meet your needs, no matter what stage you are at in life.

So, let’s get to work, build lots more homes, and build an economy that is fair for every generation.