1y ago

Some provinces reject $6-billion housing program announced by Trudeau ahead of federal budget

www.theglobeandmail.com

http://web.archive.org/web/20240403011926/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-housing-program-federal-budget/

6 comments

In a statement, Conservative housing critic Scott Aitchison panned Tuesday’s announcement as another “photo-op” that won’t get the homes Canadians need built.
I don't know if Trudeau's plan is any good, but what the fuck is the Con's plan? More unregulated free market trickle down bullshit?
- "Common sense Conservatives will fire the gatekeepers and remove the bureaucracy to build the homes Canadians can afford,” Aitchison said.
  If I am reading the article correctly, they dont have to take the money if they dont like the requirements. They can come up with their own plan and build houses to their own local code specifications. Which I guess will allow for building-code-free shanty towns?
  
  People died and so we made building codes. It's so great that the cons want to remove the codes and their inspectors.
  But, removing the independent inspectors has never been a good move (ohai Boeing); and also removing oversight is kinda their standard M-O. They just struggle to find a reason to remove oversight from the equation.
- Yeah probably something like that. During the conservative debates Aitchinson seemed very reasonable but whenever I see media reporting on him now, he seems less so.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The program, announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, would require provinces to agree to a list of conditions to access the money, including eliminating single-family zoning and allowing fourplexes by default.
Mr. Trudeau has previously faced pushback on other housing-related policies, including the Housing Accelerator Fund, which imposed similar requirements on municipalities and prompted premiers to threaten to use legislation to prevent Ottawa from dealing directly with local governments.
But Housing Minister Sean Fraser said the government is prepared to go around any provinces that don’t agree to the fund’s conditions, which also include freezing development charges and adopting changes to the national building code.
1 obstacle to building homes is a lack of housing infrastructure, but a spokeswoman pushed back on imposing blanket zoning rules to access the money.
“We think it’s critically important to tie infrastructure funding to a clear commitment to build housing, to respond to the needs of the people of British Columbia,” he told a news conference.
Meanwhile, Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, wondered whether billions of dollars would be enough to persuade provinces to change their approach.
The original article contains 922 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

6 comments