Build Canada Homes EXPOSED: Where is the $13 billion? Where are the houses?

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[00:00:01]Um since in the main estimates we see billions in housing related spending um I just wanted to uh focus actually on the report you did on u the buy Canada.

[00:00:12]So my first question is if CHC already existed with the myriad of other um housing financing powers and so forth um exist did the government need to create uh Build Canada homes at all?

[00:00:26]So, we've had a request from, I believe, Senate Finance to look at the ensemble of uh programs that support housing. Do you want to give a little thumbnail on that, Mark?

[00:00:40]>> I'm just looking.

[00:00:41]>> Yes or no? You're saying you're going to look into it is what I understand.

[00:00:44]>> Some studies uh looking at kind of the the range of things that are are out there supporting. So my next question was basically has the government demonstrated that build Canada the homes will deliver housing faster than CHC was already capable of delivering?

[00:00:58]>> So so we've done some estimates on this.

[00:01:00]Ginder Caroline you want to take it?

[00:01:03]>> Well our understanding first of all is that it seems most of the um affordable housing responsibility is going to be switched to build Canada homes. So >> okay sorry just because I have super short I was hoping just that you had a a quick answer. So you're saying affordable >> our initial report showed that at least for now it doesn't seem like it's going to move the needle much.

[00:01:26]That's what the result we had.

[00:01:27]>> Okay. So last night uh Liberal MP Leslie Church stood in the house and said and I quote, "We are building big. We are building bold. We are building now. We are building at a scale not seen in this country since the end of the Second World War. We are building 500,000 homes."

[00:01:44]So my question is if uh Build Canada Homes is expected to add only 2 26,000 units over 5 years, does that fall short of the government's public promises? And do those numbers align with her assertion from last night?

[00:01:59]>> I think you've captured the the key uh figure that we've estimated previously, >> the 26,000 being the impact of uh that program. I I think we've also done work uh recently to identify the gap in homes versus demographics. Uh >> so I'm I'm more just asking do the numbers like the number she stated and the number we're seeing do they align because they don't appear to align to me.

[00:02:24]>> We're not seeing it yet. Housing starts are roughly uh pretty flat.

[00:02:28]>> Okay. So, since Build Canada Homes was announced and this government supposedly began building big and bold, as we heard last night, have national housing starts improved or weakened?

[00:02:39]>> Um, I would say that in the last 6 months or so, the housing starts have been on a downward trend generally.

[00:02:45]>> Okay. So, is Parliament uh currently being given a clear breakdown showing how much Build Canada homes will spend on admin versus actual housing construction? Yes or no?

[00:02:56]>> Have we been given a number?

[00:02:58]We yeah in in our report we had an estimate I don't remember the number from the top of my head but um it is in the report uh what was the administrative cost overhead cost >> uh so uh can parliament currently determine the projected cost per housing unit under Build Canada homes?

[00:03:20]we could potentially just go back to the numbers in the report and take that administrative cost and divide it by the number of units we believe are going to be built.

[00:03:30]>> Uh so I'm just this is what I have here.

[00:03:32]If parliament doesn't have a clean dollars to doors breakdown of the 13 billion project and housing starts are drastically falling across the country, could we say this program isn't performing as promised?

[00:03:45]So I think the target of 500,000 uh homes uh has not been met yet and uh but yet uh with the uh fact that Canada's population is now in decline. Uh I think that comes against market forces of whether the very short time apologize.

[00:04:07]Uh, if housing starts are weakening while federal housing bureaucracy expands, should parliament question whether the current approach is working?

[00:04:14]And I think that's what you were speaking to. Should we question it?

[00:04:16]>> That's absolutely the role of Parliament.

[00:04:18]>> Okay. Would it be fair to say Canadians were promised a housing construction boom, but Parliament is currently being asked to approve billions without a clear evidence that those targets will actually be met or should be met?

[00:04:30]>> I think we'd certainly like to see more on the plans and the specific target path.

[00:04:35]>> Just that one more question. Should parliament expect clear performance metrics tied to housing completions before approving large increases in housing related spending? It would be good to see targeted performance metrics.

[00:04:47]>> And at what point does >> Okay.