Minister Fraser Urged to Review Housing Agency’s Mandate Amid Affordability Crisis

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser arrives for question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 3, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Housing Minister Sean Fraser was pressed during a Commons committee meeting to review the mandate of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) amid rampant nationwide affordability struggles in light of its executives’ large bonuses.

“Can you tell Canadians why officials at CMHC received almost $27 million in bonuses? They have one job: making housing affordable for all,” Conservative MP Andrew Scheer asked Mr. Fraser during a Sept. 27 meeting of the housing committee.

Mr. Scheer asserted CMHC officials weren’t entitled to their bonuses in light of ballooning affordability struggles for homeowners and renters alike, adding the agency’s board is federally appointed and housing falls under Mr. Fraser’s watch.

Mr. Fraser replied, “Elected officials shouldn’t interfere with the compensation of individual public servants.” Mr. Scheer reiterated that bonuses are altogether independent of compensation. CMHC President Romy Bowers, seated next to Mr. Fraser, did not comment.

NDP MP Bonita Zarrilo suggested during the meeting that CMHC’s decades-long preoccupation with “market-based” housing has come at the expense of affordable and social housing, and also requested that Mr. Fraser initiate a review of the Crown corporation’s mandate.

“The only details I would quibble with are what, specifically, are we going to be reviewing and for what purpose to the extent that we want to continue to encourage a focus on increasing supply and growing the non-market supply?” Mr. Fraser replied.

Vancouver and Toronto-area home prices averaged $1,208,400 and $1,082,496 respectively in August. Condominiums, considered entry-level homeownership, averaged $770,000 in Vancouver and $705,572 in Toronto in August.

With high interest rates and elevated inflation, the share of renters staying put has grown. That, along with population growth, has created an historically tight rental market in which prices are rapidly escalating.

The Liberals introduced supply-side measures to address affordability last week, increasing the Canada Mortgage Bond to $60 billion from $40 billion, and suspending GST on rental construction for seven years.

During a Sept. 26 Senate committee meeting on national finance, CMHC’s chief economist Bob Dugan couldn’t say how many more units of rental housing the measures will create. While CMHC has previously stated that 3.5 million more homes are needed by 2030 to restore affordability in the market, Mr. Dugan said it will do little for the people likeliest to rent.

“It doesn’t take care of that part of the market that is most in need, the lower-income folks,” he said.