Craig Lord
Briefing materials were prepared for new Housing Minister Gregor Robertson and released this week, acknowledging that expensive housing is hurting the economy and making it difficult for people to find a place to live.
“The vulnerable population and low-income families are working to meet basic housing needs due to the lack of suitable affordable housing,” the document said.
Middle-class Canadians are also working to buy homes and stay in rental units for longer periods, “putting additional pressure on rental supply and increasing rental costs.”
Andy Yan, a professor of urban planning at Simon Fraser University, said this reveals how the housing market conditions in the Robertson briefing plant constitute bureaucracy.
“This is one of the documents that actually allows us to understand not only how the minister briefly introduces it, but also how Ottawa’s machinery sees housing issues across the country,” he said.
The document says that in recent years, Canada’s population has grown rapidly, which is “increasing pressure and costs for communities.”
Elsewhere in the briefing materials, bureaucrats noted that Ottawa’s plan to curb population growth is expected to slow economic activity and reduce housing prices lower than others.
The documents prepared during the peak of uncertainty related to tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump, which also argued that trade disruptions would “create uncertainty about overall investment and prices.”
The document predicts that Canadian housing prices will grow in 2025 but will be cooler in the next two years, while housing will start to slow down this year, but still above the 10-year average.
The document says that as demand drops, population growth is slower, and vacancy rates will increase, and rental supply is expected to grow.
The forecasts for Robertson’s briefing materials are based on forecasts by BMO, RBC, Canadian Real Estate Association and Canadian Mortgage and Housing Companies.
Government data in the briefing binder shows that the cost of building a residential building in Canada has increased by 58% since 2020, thanks to our tariffs.
The briefing notes also acknowledge that “the mismatch between the type of housing built and the type of housing needed and required”.
YAN said the briefing reveals concerns about supply and market dynamics, but ignores a large number of analysis of homebuyers and renters.
In major cities like Vancouver, income differences between renters and homeowners are important and play an important role in determining overall housing affordability, Yan said.
“They talk about housing prices. They talked (housing) to start, resale activities and rental vacancies. But I don’t think what I must have seen is that we are working on accommodation.”
The documents suggest financialization of Canadian real estate, citing federal housing advocates estimates that 20% to 30% of dedicated rental units are owned by institutional investors.
But Yan said binders rarely focus on the role foreign capital plays in market prices and can play a role in building new homes.
“I look forward to hearing their solution, but their initial diagnosis of the problem seemed to be about half the picture,” he said.
Briefing materials show that between 2020 and 2023, an average of 43% of homeless shelters are used per night. The length of shelters is also increasing, and these documents indicate that this indicates a barrier to ending homelessness.
The document says the government lags behind investing in market prices, which is a hazard to newcomers and vulnerable Canadians, especially tough ones.
The inventory of non-market affordable homes in Canada accounts for 4% of the total housing, down from the OECD average of 7%.
Robertson himself admitted that Canada has been a laggard in non-market housing on its first day as minister.
He told reporters after being sworn in on May 14: “The Canadian government has not built affordable housing since the 1990s, and we have created a huge shortage in Canada. That’s the biggest demand right now.”
Robertson said he was asked that day if he thought house prices needed to be lowered to restore affordability.
“I think we need to provide more supply and ensure the market is stable,” he said.
The federal government plans to create a new Canadian housing agency to increase the pace of affordable home construction and encourage builders to adopt new technologies.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier this week during the Liberal Caucus retreat that his administration will set up new institutions in the coming days. He suggested a major housing announcement will be issued on Sunday.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre blamed the Liberal speed on Tuesday on slowing housing in Toronto and Vancouver after the release of the CMHC report released by the Liberals in the first half of 2025.
“Mr. Carney has achieved impossible achievements. It’s a triple crisis, the price is too high, the buyers can’t buy, the sellers are too low to sell and insufficient to build the builder.”
He also said liberals need to “control immigration”, believing that the influx of new immigrants over the past decade has led to housing shortages and should be attributed to rising youth unemployment.
– Sarah Ritchie’s file
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Last modified: September 12, 2025
