kingston liberal candidate gerretsen touts housing plan
mark gerretsen says party's housing plan would build on the past decade's investments
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a new liberal government would build 500,000 new homes a year, the party announced monday.
elliot ferguson
/
the whig-standard
kingston — the liberal party of canada’s new pledge to build 500,000 new homes a year will build on the success of the past decade, said mark gerretsen, the party’s candidate for kingston and the islands.
liberal leader mark carney released details of the build canada homes program monday morning, calling it the country’s “most ambitious housing plan since the second world war” that includes $25 billion in funding for prefabricated housing builders and $10 billion in financing for affordable housing.
“we’re going to build homes canadians can afford, and a new industry that can take on the world,” carney said in a news release announcing the campaign promise. “we’re going to get the government back into the business of homebuilding, while partnering with workers and industry, and cutting taxes for home buyers – so more canadians can buy their first homes.”
in kingston, gerretsen said the renewed federal support for affordable housing would make a difference.
“advocating for affordable housing has been a cornerstone of my work over the past decade, and i’m proud of the progress we’ve made through federal funding commitments to date, gerretsen said. “in kingston alone, we’ve built nearly 250 units since 2015, and the $27.6 million allocated through the housing accelerator fund will build 4,800 over the next decade.”
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the plan also includes reducing by half the municipal development charges for multi-unit residential housing, reintroducing a tax incentive for builders of affordable housing, and eliminating the gst for first time home buyers buying a house for less than $1 million.
elferguson@postmedia.com
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