Madam Speaker, the government has enacted some positive measures through the national housing strategy. The act acknowledges that adequate housing is a fundamental human right affirmed in international law. This is important and should underpin every measure to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in Canada.

For decades the government shifted the responsibility for funding affordable housing onto the provinces and municipalities. It is good to see that changing, because there is no doubt that neglecting that responsibility worsened the current crisis. The housing and homelessness crisis is especially severe in Nanaimo—Ladysmith. Local agencies appreciate the funding sources, but more action is needed in the short and long term.

The forces driving the affordable housing crisis in Canada and around the world need to be addressed. Numerous reports reveal that Canada is an emerging tax haven for the world's ultrawealthy. Canadian real estate is a major vehicle for money laundering, with estimates that in 2018 alone $5.3 billion was laundered in British Columbia. Unregulated lenders, which are not required to report money laundering, accounted for $25 billion in residential mortgages in greater Toronto. These illicit activities have had a huge impact on home prices in Canada's major cities.

The government's amendments to the Canada Business Act are a welcome step toward closing tax evasion and money laundering loopholes, but much more needs to be done. The new registry for beneficial owners of privately held federally incorporated companies needs to be public and transparent. Corporate investment in residential real estate, and the financialization of housing, are distorting the market even further and making communities across Canada, both large and small, unaffordable.

In the 10 years following the 2008 market crash, $28 billion in housing in the Toronto area was acquired by corporate entities including numbered companies, hedge funds and real estate investment trusts. They went beyond traditional investments in multi-unit housing and started purchasing single-family homes as well. Many pension funds were heavily invested in real estate-backed investment packages. It is painful to realize that the workers paying into those pensions are being hurt by the unaffordable home prices and high rents that are the result of predatory real estate investment practices.

I often hear Liberal and Conservative members of the House bragging about how Canada is one of the most open jurisdictions when it comes to foreign direct investment. This is not something to brag about when it comes to the impact of foreign investment on housing affordability. We need stronger regulations to stop this free-for-all.

The increased price of housing drives up the cost of rent. Renters are often forced to move when the home they live in is sold and new landlords increase rent or engage in renovictions. Finding a new home with a comparable rent is often impossible. Transfers to the provinces should be contingent on stronger rental protections or national standards for rent and vacancy controls. The rental subsidy for low-income renters is a band-aid solution to help people with rising rents, when in reality it is a transfer of taxpayer dollars to private landlords who may be engaged in the predatory practices I have already outlined.

Affordable rental housing created through the rental construction financing initiative should have covenants in place to ensure the units remain affordable rather than allowing them to convert to market-rate housing in just 10 years. To guarantee long-term affordability, investing in non-profit and co-op housing needs to be the focus of the national housing strategy.

Paul Manly

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Adjournment Proceedings

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