Government of Canada unlocks 14 more federal properties for housing

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 8, 2024 /CNW/ – Everyone deserves a place to call home. However, for many across the country, home ownership and renting is out of reach due to the unprecedented housing crisis Canada is facing. We need to build more homes, faster, to get Canadians into homes that meet their needs, at prices they can afford. That’s why in Budget 2024 and Canada’s Housing Plan, the federal government announced the most ambitious housing plan in Canadian history: a plan to build 4 million more homes.

As part of this plan, the Government of Canada is identifying properties within its portfolio that have the potential for housing, and is actively adding them to the Canada Public Land Bank. Wherever possible, the government will turn these properties into housing through a long-term lease, not a one-time sale, to support affordable housing and ensure public land stays public.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, joined by the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Terry Beech, Minister of Citizens’ Services, announced that 14 new properties have been added to the Canada Public Land Bank.

A total of 70 federal properties have now been identified as being suitable to support housing. This list will continue to grow in the coming months, with further details on listed properties available soon.

As part of the initial launch of the Canada Public Land Bank in August 2024, the Canada Lands Company, in partnership with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, issued a call for proposals for 5 properties located in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Montréal. The call for proposals for the properties in Toronto and Montréal closed on October 1, 2024, and evaluations have begun. The call for proposals for the Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa properties will close on November 1, 2024.

To provide feedback on the land bank and its properties, the Government of Canada launched a call for housing solutions for communities: a secure online platform.

To date, the Government of Canada has already received interest and feedback from provinces, territories and municipalities, as well as developers, housing advocates and Indigenous groups. This information will be used to develop and bring more properties to market starting this fall.

To solve Canada’s housing crisis, the federal government is using every tool at its disposal. The Government of Canada is accelerating its real property disposal process to match the speed of builders and the urgency of getting affordable homes built for Canada.

Quotes

“Safe, accessible and affordable housing options are out of reach for far too many Canadians. The launch of the Canada Public Land Bank in August 2024 laid the foundation for our efforts to unlock public lands for housing at a pace and scale not seen in generations. We are delivering on our promise to continue to add more properties to the land bank and meet the deliverables outlined in Budget 2024 to support a new, ambitious Public Lands for Homes Plan. In doing so, we can build strong communities and more affordable housing across the country.”

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Public Services and Procurement

“We must use every possible tool to build more homes and unlock homeownership for every generation of Canadians. That’s why we announced the most ambitious housing plan in Canada’s history: a plan to build 4 million new homes. Today, we are identifying another 14 federal properties suitable for housing, and making those properties available to homebuilders in the Canada Public Land Bank.”

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

“We need to build more homes in Canada, and one of the largest costs in building is land. With 14 more properties being added to the land bank, we’re growing the list of potential public lands where new homes can be built.”

The Honourable Sean Fraser
Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Quick facts

In Budget 2024 and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan, the federal government announced an ambitious whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis by building more homes, making it easier to rent or own a home, and helping Canadians who cannot afford a home.
A key component of Canada’s Housing Plan is the new Public Lands for Homes Plan. This plan aims to partner with all levels of government, homebuilders and housing providers to build homes, faster, on surplus and underused public lands across the country.
The Public Lands for Homes Plan supports the government’s goal of unlocking 250,000 new homes by 2031.
Budget 2024 also provided $500 million, on a cash basis, to launch the new Public Lands Acquisition Fund. This fund will buy land from other orders of government to allow the federal government to acquire more land for housing to help build middle-class homes. Work on the fund is already underway, and more details will be released in the coming weeks.
In August 2024, a new tool for builders called the Canada Public Land Bank was launched with an initial 56 properties under the Public Lands for Homes Plan.
As of October 8, 2024, there are 70 properties listed in the Canada Public Land Bank, representing a total of 385 hectares of land, which is the size of approximately 2,500 hockey rinks or almost 750 Canadian Football League football fields.