New ‘post-partisan’ task force says Canada’s housing goal can’t compromise its emissions targets

A new task force says that while the goal of building 5.8 million new homes by 2030 will require co-operation from all three levels of government and greater leadership from civil society, the federal government needs to ensure it isn’t subsidizing "irresponsible growth" that jeopardizes its efforts to tackle climate change and reduce emissions by 2050. The Clean Economy Fund-supported Task Force on Housing and Climate launched Sept. 12 and is co-chaired by Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative minister of transport, labour, and natural resources; and Don Iveson, the former mayor of Edmonton, Alta. The task force is funded by the Donner Canadian Foundation, the Trottier Family Foundation, Suncor Energy, the McLean Foundation, the Chisholm Thomson Family Foundation, and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. Raitt told The Hill Times she was encouraged by the Liberals' announcements last week indicating that “all three orders of government are seized with the issue,” but said the need for the task force remains to ensure that while Canada works towards its goal of building 5.8 million homes by 2030, it doesn’t compromise its emissions reduction targets for 2050. On Sept. 13, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation provided an update to the report it released in June 2022 on Canada’s current housing shortage, projecting that the country will need an additional 3.5 million housing units on top of the already planned housing starts to return to 2004 levels of affordability. That same day, the Liberals announced that London, Ont., was the first successful applicant to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, with the goal of building an additional 2,000 new homes. This was followed by another announcement the next day that the federal government would remove GST from the construction of new rental apartment buildings. “ is going to be a big part of our emissions calculations, and as a result, we should be thinking about what we're going to build and how we're going to build it,” Raitt said, explaining that those new builds will have to consider construction methods and materials that not only reduce those homes' carbon footprints, but also improve their resiliency to the increasing wildfires, flooding, and other extreme weather events occurring with greater intensity across the country. Raitt said she and Iveson were approached by the Clean Economy Fund—a charitable foundation—as they were both from different ends of the political spectrum and have experience in different levels of government. Their aim, she said, is to work with academics and researchers in the housing sector to come up with “policy ideas that make sense” and can be “saleable to the public.” Former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt is co-chairing a new task force in the hopes of informing and elevating the political debate around Canada's 'twin crises' on housing affordability and climate change. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade Raitt said she hopes that by bringing different viewpoints from across the political spectrum for pragmatic discussions devoid of the usual “partisan bickering” on Parliament Hill, the task force will be able to provide a “buffet of choices” for research-backed policies that municipal, provincial, and federal governments will be able to implement as quickly as possible. “We’ve commissioned this research on what will be the best mix to get to that double goal, which means building quickly to help as many people as quickly as possible but still doing it in a way that reduces GHG emissions and is resilient,” Raitt explained. “We hope to show through real research what is the best path forward and offer options for any level of government in the country to meet those goals.” Raitt added that it would also be in governments' best interests to co-operate with each other, regardless of political stripe, and “put a little water in their wine” when it comes to how best to address the issue rather than an “all-or-nothing” debate where only one side can win. “The City of Toronto is a good example; we've got an NDP mayor, a premier who's Progressive Conservative, and a Liberal prime minister,” Raitt said. “But the people in Toronto don't care about that; what they care about is their housing, and they're going to punish any political stripe that isn't doing what needs to be done.” Raitt said the reality is Canada will need to address both housing affordability and the climate crisis at the same time or risk jeopardizing both, pointing to recent polling the task force commissioned from Abacus Data which indicates that while more than half of Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned with the impacts of housing affordability (53 per cent), three-fifths of those polled (62 per cent) indicated that Canada should not compromise on its climate goals while addressing the housing crisis. While ensuring that lowering housing prices doesn’t negatively impact Canada’s efforts to lower emissions, Raitt also noted that addressing the housing crisis is integral to ensuring the fight against climate change still has buy-in from younger Canadians struggling to afford rent or buy a home. “My kids are never going to abandon the fact that they want to have a cleaner world and that they want greenhouse gas reductions, but they're also seized now with the fact that they can’t even find a rental place,” Raitt said. “That's going to bump up against people like me who have houses and in traditional neighbourhoods that they've been in for 30 years, who are uncomfortable with a zoning change that allows for greater density.” Iveson told The Hill Times that it was good to see the Liberals beginning to make announcements on the Housing Accelerator Fund, and called the announcement of the removal of GST “a major stimulus for much-needed rental housing.” Former Edmonton mayor Don Iveson says while the federal government has an interest in facilitating a surge in new affordable housing starts, it should also be looking to ensure municipalities plans are in line with national goals on emission reductions and climate resiliency. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade “It’s a huge move but long overdue,” Iveson added, noting that removing the GST on rental housing construction is something affordable housing advocates have been talking about for a long time, including the author of the housing accord presented to the Liberal cabinet retreat, Mike Moffatt, who will also serve as a co-ordinator for the task force. Iveson credits that report Moffatt presented in August for helping build much of the government’s momentum on the issue in recent weeks. As for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s (Carleton, Ont.) suggestion to increase or decrease funding to municipalities based on whether they exceed or fail to meet a 15 per cent housing target, Iveson said it would represent a strong incentive to add supply, but he's unsure how Poilievre would ensure that supply is affordable or wouldn't negatively impact Canada’s 2050 emissions targets. “It’s very easy to approve very bad developments very quickly,” Iveson said, adding that municipalities will also have to ensure new builds aren’t constructed in floodplains or areas susceptible to forest fires. While Iveson said that incentivizing “irresponsible growth” could be an unintended consequence of Poilievre’s proposal, he added that the Conservative leader is correct in identifying the federal government’s interest in increasing the housing supply. “But also should be looking at ensuring a municipality or region’s long-range growth plan is environmentally efficient,” Iveson continued, explaining that the government should be looking at whether the plans submitted by municipalities to the accelerator fund would reduce traffic or air pollution, and whether they would control costs while aligning with both productivity and environmental objectives. The communities and regions whose plans are aligned with those national goals should get more money, Iveson said, and funding should be withheld from those who do not. “Even if they’re producing a lot of housing, if they’re misaligned from an environmental, affordability, or public-health standpoint, Canada shouldn’t be subsidizing that kind of growth,” Iveson continued. Iveson added that while keeping those new builds in line with Canada’s emission targets may be more expensive, choosing savings over climate resiliency would only create more economic loss in the future. “Most people, if they had to choose, of course, they're going to say we have to solve the housing crisis first, but if we did that for the next 10 years without regard to the climate, we would actually make our overall situation as a country worse,” Iveson said. “Those bad choices may seem acute, but they could actually lose the entire unit as those choices aggregate and result in higher emissions, making climate hazards more severe and driving more loss.” Alternatively, Iveson said a national industrial strategy for manufacturing housing on a mass scale would actually create the opportunity to build more efficiently and cost effectively. “There's no doubt we have a housing crisis in this country, but we have a climate crisis in this world, and it's affecting both Canadians' health and their pocketbooks today,” Iveson continued, adding that, “by and large, Canadians agree that these are twin crises, and we do have to rise to the challenge of managing both.“ The task force will meet over the coming fall, with the goal of producing research findings before the federal fall economic statement, as well as actionable recommendations for all levels of government early in the new year. Iveson said he hopes the group will at least be able to ensure a better-informed discussion among politicians to help raise the level of debate. Iveson said he believes that partisan politics will continue to struggle to “honour the complexity” of either issue and their increasing connectedness, but he appreciates the task force for allowing “recovering political figures” like himself and Raitt a chance to work past that hurdle alongside subject matter experts and researchers. Alongside Iveson, Raitt, and Moffatt, 10 members have signed on to the task force, including academics like Dalhousie University associate professor Ren Thomas; Celyeste Power, president and CEO of the Insurance Bureau of Canada; the City of Toronto's former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat; and real estate and development executives including Dream Unlimited Corp. executive vice-president Tsering Yangki, and Icona Properties president and CEO Greg Moore. “Some folks need to raise the level of debate on this issue, and that's really what this task force has been convened to do in a pragmatic, constructive, and post-partisan way,” Iveson said, adding that political parties continuing to play “one against the other” is unacceptable. However, while the twin crises will require greater co-operation by all levels of government, Iveson said he believes it will increasingly fall to civil society to lead on finding solutions until Canada can get past the current moment of deeply polarized political divisions. Yet, despite those partisan divisions, Iveson said he also believes there is a broad consensus among the public on the need and demand for governments to create a surge in housing, especially for those Canadians most in need. “We are also way short on the at least 600,000 units of affordable housing needed in the market today, as we are seeing more and more Canadians lose theirs,” Iveson explained, adding that addressing the increasing number of unhoused Canadians would also be a cost-saving venture. “When we’re already housing them at hospitals, jails, or shelters for tens of thousands of dollars a month, all of a sudden $3,000 a month to keep someone who is otherwise creating challenges for themselves, their family and for society in affordable housing seems like the obvious thing to do,” Iveson explained, adding that beyond the cost savings for provinces on their major expenditures towards health care and criminal justice, it is also a simple matter of ensuring all Canadians have a basic level of human dignity. Housing Minister Sean Fraser (Central Nova, N.S.) was unavailable for an interview and his office did not respond to questions from The Hill Times by publishing deadline. sbenson@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

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New ‘post-partisan’ task force says Canada’s housing goal can’t compromise its emissions targets

Co-chairs Lisa Raitt and Don Iveson say ‘partisan bickering’ doesn’t honour the complexity of addressing Canada’s ‘twin crises.’

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