REALTORS® know addressing Canada’s housing crisis requires a comprehensive, national approach. In 2022, our members continued to advocate for housing policy solutions. Below are some of the key successes.

PAC at Home 2022

Each spring, REALTOR® Political Action Committee (PAC) representatives meet with their local Members of Parliament (MPs) during the spring parliamentary break. 

Between March 14 and April 22, 2022, PAC Reps met with their elected officials to discuss some very important recommendations from the REALTOR® community. The following recommendations were submitted to the government in CREA’s pre-budget consultation in advance of the 2022 Budget and set the stage for PAC at Home:

1. Establish a permanent national housing roundtable, bringing together federal, provincial/ territorial, and municipal authorities along with builders, real estate professionals and civil society organizations to help understand the scale of the housing supply challenge.
2. Increase the supply of new homes for Canadians across the housing spectrum by adding housing clauses in Infrastructure Bilateral Agreements between Infrastructure Canada and provincial and territorial partners.
3. Make homes more accessible to Canadians by implementing six key promises indicated in the Liberal Housing Plan:
   1. give municipalities the tools to speed up housing construction through the Housing Accelerator Fund;
   1. help generations of families live together by introducing the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit;
   1. convert empty office space into housing;
   1. introduce a tax-free first home savings account;
   1. make the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive more flexible; and
   1. help renters become homeowners by committing $1 billion in loans and grants to develop rent-to-own projects.

The federal government tabled Budget 2022 in the middle of PAC at Home and we quickly noticed many of our REALTOR® advocacy positions were reflected in it.

PAC Reps and members of the REALTOR® community met with more than 80 MPs, delivering their messages effectively just as parliamentarians prepared their return to the House of Commons to begin debating the budget. Our messages were heard loud and clear, and there was no lack of housing policy discussion in the during the 44th parliamentary spring session.

Budget 2022

On April 7, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland tabled A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable, the first budget of the 44th parliamentary session. The budget was heavily focused on addressing the housing crisis in Canada and acknowledged the importance of housing to both individual Canadians and the overall economy.

Budget 2022 highlighted the government’s intentions to implement several asks that CREA and our REALTOR® members have been putting forward to parliamentarians. It was clear REALTORS® are recognized for the important role they play within the housing and advocacy spaces.

Measures that were included in the budget:

• creating flexibility to tie access to infrastructure funding by province, territories and municipalities to increase housing supply;
• a new Housing Accelerator Fund that will spend $4 billion over five years to support updated processes and systems, and encourage municipalities to build 100,000 (net new) housing units;
• leveraging transit funding to build more homes;
• doubling the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit;
• implementation of the promised Tax-Free First Home Savings Account;
• implementing the promised Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit; and
• implementing a publicly accessible, beneficial ownership registry of corporations governed under the Canada Business Corporations Act by 2023.

The government committed to several other measures related to the housing sector, like supporting rent-to-own projects to assist Canadians on their path to homeownership and $1.5 billion for new affordable housing spending through the Rapid Housing Initiative.

Following the release of Budget 2022, CREA’s Government Relations team assessed all measures announced and investigated the impact of each initiative on REALTORS®. The team submitted several consultation submissions throughout the summer and fall of 2022, including on the government’s “Canada Green Buildings Strategy” and a consultation on the government’s “Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act.”

REAL Ideas

Ahead of CREA’s annual PAC Days in October, the “REALTORS® know” campaign was launched at REALideas.ca, reinforcing our messaging that to solve the housing crisis, we need everyone around the table.

The campaign included out-of-home ads in the Parliamentary precinct, the Ottawa International Airport, the CF Rideau Centre, and various bus shelters around the City of Ottawa. It was also seen digitally across various social media channels, including LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, and on the National NewsWatch website.

PAC Days

After two years of virtual programming, CREA welcomed 400 REALTORS® back to the nation’s capital for our 37th annual PAC Days. The three-day conference hosted incredible panelists and speakers who discussed various topics, including the housing crisis in Canada.  

PAC Reps took to Parliament Hill during the conference to meet with their MPs, advocating for two REALTOR® recommendations: 

1. Creating a permanent national housing roundtable; and
2. Including clauses in Infrastructure Bilateral Agreements with provincial and territorial partners, encouraging the creation of more housing supply.

For the full summary of PAC Days, see REALTORS® PAC a Punch on the Hill: Highlights from CREA PAC Days 2022.

End of year advocacy

On November 3, 2022, Minister Freeland presented the Fall Economic Statement 2022. The statement outlined the government’s plan to continue to help Canadians with the cost of living and build a Canada where nobody gets left behind.

The statement highlights three pillars: making life more affordable, moving forward to make housing more affordable, and jobs and skills training. CREA welcomed the government’s continued commitment to increase supply and address affordability across the entire housing continuum.

We welcome the government’s continued commitment in the fall economic statement to increase supply and address affordability across the entire housing spectrum.

— CREA | ACI (@CREA_ACI) November 3, 2022

Looking forward to 2023: What’s next?

As we enter a new year, CREA’s Government Relations team continues to monitor the federal government’s activities and advance REALTOR® messaging and recommendations. For information on upcoming federal government measures that will come into effect in 2023, please see Federal Government Releases Regulations on Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act.

Get involved!

Do you want to get involved in REALTOR® advocacy? Learn more about how you can become the face and voice for your REALTOR® community and bring industry knowledge into discussions with political decision makers. Contact your local board or association executive or CREA’s Government Relations team at pac@crea.ca to get started.