Housing Minister Says He Didn’t Need Briefing Note to Understand Immigration Impact on Supply

Housing Minister Sean Fraser rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Housing Minister Sean Fraser has reacted to a news report saying his government was warned internally two years ago that high immigration levels would impact housing affordability.

“I don’t think anybody needs a briefing note to understand that having more people in the housing market impacts the housing market,” Mr. Fraser said during a press conference in Halifax on Jan. 15.

The Canadian Press reported last week that Mr. Fraser’s former department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, had produced an analysis to inform the new immigration targets for 2023 to 2025. The document, obtained through the access to information regime, said that “population growth has exceeded the growth in available housing units.” The Liberal government nevertheless raised immigration levels.

Mr. Fraser defended the targets, saying they apply to the number of permanent residents being admitted, some of which already live here. He says the major impact is rather coming from temporary residents, such as foreign workers and international students.

“I don’t want to suggest that there are not challenges with the rapidity of population growth, but they’re largely being driven by programs where the government doesn’t set a target or cap, but they’re driven by demand,” he said.

The minister accused unspecified educational institutions of being established for the sole purpose of financially exploiting the international students program.

Mr. Fraser gave the remarks after a meeting with Atlantic provincial ministers responsible for housing. He noted how previous concerns in the region related to young people departing to settle elsewhere, leading to economic decline, but in recent years the challenge has flipped to one of adjusting to rapid population growth.

“I can tell you as a representative of communities in Nova Scotia, the challenges associated with growth are ones I would prefer over to losing schools and hospital services, seven days a week,” he said.

There were no new federal investments announced during the meeting with Atlantic ministers, which was focused on discussing regional housing challenges and solutions such as options to incentivize the construction of factory-built homes and collaboration on establishing an Atlantic Canada chapter in the housing catalogue.

Housing Crisis

Canadians have been facing a multi-faceted housing crisis in recent years, with experts warning that Canada’s strong population growth is eroding housing affordability, as demand outpaces supply.

Average asking rents reached a record-high of $2,178 in December, according to Rentals.ca, marking an increase of 8.6 percent over the previous year. Homeless encampments are also seen across the country.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) assessed earlier this year that an extra 3.5 million new homes need to be built by 2030 to return to affordability, calling it a “staggering gap.”

Factors contributing to the “looming crisis” include population growth and increased urbanization, says the CMHC.

The Liberal government has focused more on housing after its summer cabinet retreat, with weekly announcements.

Multiple deals with municipalities to build new homes under the Housing Accelerator Fund were made, and a government bill to remove GST from new rental builds became law on Dec. 15.

Liberals have set high immigration targets, planning to welcome around 500,000 new permanent residents each year over the next three years, but they’re now looking at taking some measures to mitigate societal impacts.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller told CTV News over the weekend he would consider putting a cap on international students, calling the current volume “disconcerting.”

“It’s really a system that has gotten out of control,” he said. The minister had announced in December the doubling of the amount of money international students must prove before being admitted.

Tying Housing and Immigration

The Tories have been vocal on the housing issue, blaming the Liberal government for the crisis, and their policy solutions have only focused on the supply-side.

In a Jan. 15 statement on the rise of rental costs, the Conservative Party wrote that the “only solution to this affordable housing crisis is for the Liberal Government to build more homes.”

But Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre did mention immigration in the context of The Canadian Press’ reports.

Speaking to reporters on Jan. 12, Mr. Poilievre said that Conservatives would “get back to an approach of immigration that invites a number of people that we can house, employ, and care for in our health care system.”

Mr. Fraser said he agrees with the idea proposed by the Tory leader. “Is the idea of tying the number of people who come to Canada to the number of homes available a good one? Yes,” he said during the press conference.

“It’s one of the factors that we’ve considered over the past number of years, but we need to recognize that we have to bring other players to the table, not just our provincial counterparts, but the institutions who are dramatically increasing the number of study permits they request, sometimes at the personal financial gain of the people behind some of those private colleges.”