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The housing plan proposed by future Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre is “limited and poorly designed,” says Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe.

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Earlier this week, the Conservative Party proposed a tax cut on sales of new homes under $1 million.

“Several housing experts criticized the plan, pointing out that it would not guarantee that savings would be passed on to home buyers,” notes a press release from Lapointe. “The plan also does not encourage an increase in housing supply. It also fails to provide assistance to first-time home buyers.

Poilievre said the tax cut would be financed by canceling the Housing Acceleration Fund, which currently funds municipalities to build new homes, as well as the Housing Infrastructure Fund – a program of $5 billion that will help fund residential water and wastewater development. in the communities.

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Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser recently confirmed that Conservative MPs “wrote to him directly to ask him to grant their municipalities funding from the fund that their leader wants to eliminate,” the press release indicates.

“What this shows us is that once we scratch the surface of conservative slogans, we end up with mediocre and erroneous concepts,” Lapointe said. “The leader’s housing proposal goes against not only members of his own party, but also the interests and well-being of their communities.

Lapointe further pointed out that the other fund Poilievre wants to eliminate – the Housing Infrastructure Fund – is identical to the one Ontario’s Conservative government put in place to spur new housing developments across the country. the province. It was this fund that brought Premier Doug Ford to Sudbury last week, where he announced a historic $35 million in funding for the city.

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“I don’t know how Mr. Poilievre thinks new subdivisions can be built without basic infrastructure like water and wastewater,” Lapointe said.

An October 29 Globe and Mail article also attacks Poilievre’s housing plan, stating, “If there’s one thing housing policy analysts agree on, it’s that it There is no single solution to the housing crisis. This requires investment in infrastructure, which Mr. Poilievre’s plan appears to eliminate without replacing.

Lapointe says the Liberal government’s housing plan is working, with some regions seeing a 65 per cent increase in housing starts. In just two years, Sudbury has received more than $100 million in federal housing funding.

She highlighted the Manitou project overlooking the Brady Bypass and downtown, which is one of the largest housing projects underway in Ontario.

“Sudbury deserves rapid and concrete action on housing,” said Lapointe. “And that’s what I will continue to focus on.”

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