A Place for Everyone:
A National Housing Emergency Plan

Canada is in a national housing emergency. Rents have skyrocketed, home ownership is slipping out of reach, and homelessness is increasing in every major city.

New Democrats believe housing is a human right – a place for people to live and thrive, not a corporate investment opportunity. Heather McPherson’s National Housing Emergency Plan will make housing public, affordable, and fair again.

We can build our way out of this – but not with the same people who broke it.

To make the dream of owning a home real – and ensure every renter has a safe, affordable place to live, we will marshal the necessary resources by declaring a National Housing Emergency, and we will put public builders, co‑ops, and communities back at the centre of Canada’s housing story.

Stop Profiteering:

End Corporate Control of Housing

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Stop Profiteering:

Build What Has Been Lost:

Public Builders, Co-ops, and Real Affordability

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Build What Has Been Lost:

Make It Fair:

Security for Renters, Hope for Buyers

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Make It Fair:

Indigenous-Led Housing Solutions:

Partner with Indigenous Leadership

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Indigenous-Led Housing Solutions:

End Homelessness:

No One Left Without a Home

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End Homelessness:

Stop Profiteering:

End Corporate Control of Housing

The problem: Corporate landlords and REITs inflate rents and treat homes as speculative assets.

The plan:

Ban corporate ownership of single-family homes and large rental portfolios.
Stop REITs, private equity firms, and shell companies from using public money to buy homes.
Tax REIT windfalls and close financial loopholes.
Give non-profits, co-ops, and municipalities first-right-of-purchase when rental buildings go up for sale.
Establish a public buy-in / bond-based REIT purchase program, converting corporate-owned housing into community or non-profit units. Tenant organisations and co-ops can play a role in managing and overseeing conversions.
Require full transparency of property ownership to prevent shell companies from hiding investors.
Strengthen the federal vacant homes tax and reinvest all revenue into affordable housing.

How it works:

Removing the significant federal tax incentives that support corporate interest housing will result in the sale of REIT and corporate-owned housing units.
New incentives will support the transition of units to non-profit or public ownership.
Ownership transparency is tracked with mandatory federal reporting.
Corporate investors who violate rules face fines or tax penalties.

How it helps: Stops rent inflation, prevents speculative takeovers, and ensures housing stays accessible to families rather than investors.

Build What Has Been Lost:

Public Builders, Co-ops, and Real Affordability

The problem: Canada’s housing system is broken. Canada has only 3.5 per cent social housing versus the OECD average of 7 per cent – a gap of roughly 650,000 units.

The goal: Set a target of 1.2 million new social housing units by 2035 and achieve it by building more non-market, co-ops, and below-market rental units. This shorter-term target would set Canada on the right track to meet the target proposed by the Federal Housing Advocate's proposed target of 20 per cent of all housing in Canada being non-market by 2055.

The plan:

Declare a National Housing Emergency to unlock federal land, funds, and coordination powers.
Create a national public builder (federal Crown corporation) to deliver co-op and affordable homes with municipalities, labour unions, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis governments. 40 per cent of new homes built will be non-market to meet our goal of 20 per cent non-market housing overall.
Adopt a “Buy Canadian” standard for public and affordable housing construction, prioritizing Canadian-made materials – especially sustainably harvested Canadian lumber – to protect good jobs in our forestry sector and strengthen domestic supply chains.
Establish a Community Housing Bank, which would offer low-interest loans to community housing providers and cooperatives to build or preserve affordable housing.
Use modular construction and public land to lower costs and speed delivery.
Modernize building standards by updating the National Building Code to permit single-stair egress in multi-unit buildings up to four storeys, allowing for larger, family-sized apartments rather than micro-condos. This will help families stay in their communities.

These measures will ensure that Canada’s public housing revival supports local industries, family housing design, and sustainable regional economies – not just unit counts.

How it works:

Projects are managed with local authorities and labour to ensure jobs go to the community.
Modular construction reduces costs and construction time by 30–50 per cent.
Annual reporting tracks units built, median rents, jobs created, and timeline milestones.

How it helps: Builds homes and jobs, stabilizes construction, and gives working and middle-class families a fair shot at secure, affordable housing.

Make It Fair:

Security for Renters, Hope for Buyers

The problem: Affordability policies have often been reactive, focused on subsidies without tackling profiteering or speculation. Now, renters have fewer rights than ever, and first-time buyers are losing ground.

The plan:

Federal leadership must go beyond incentives and promises. This plan sets clear rules and accountability.

Introduce a National Renters’ Bill of Rights to cap annual rent increases, stop unfair evictions, and guarantee fair leases, while ensuring provinces that undermine tenant protections cannot access new federal housing funds.
Ban AI-powered rent gouging
Tie federal housing funding to provinces that strengthen tenant protections.
Expand portable rent supplements to help lower-income renters.
Expand shared equity models and co-op homeownership programs to lower barriers for first-time buyers.
Require national data collection on rent increases, vacancy rates, and investor activity, to provide full transparency and help provinces and municipalities target interventions.
Enhance price transparency in the home-buying bidding process to end the practice of blind bidding and make home inspections accessible
Expand co-op mortgage access nationwide: implement CMHC-backed insurance or guarantees, create a federal Co-operative Housing Finance Facility, and work with credit unions and co-op federations.
Align ownership restrictions and supply growth: coordinate public and co-op builds with any corporate ownership constraints to avoid rental stock shortages.
Integrate youth opportunities – Building Canada Together with paid, practical experience helping build homes, gain skills, and contribute to communities. Includes career pathways, mentorship, and training across construction, trades, care, climate, and community sectors. These programs will also focus on skilled trades shortages in housing and green construction, linking training with good, union jobs.

How it works:

Co-op mortgage guarantees reduce lender risk, encouraging credit union participation.
Public builder and co-op homes are delivered in partnership with municipalities, labour, and local organisations.
Youth placements link to meaningful career pathways with training and mentorship.

How it helps: Tackles speculation, strengthens tenant rights, improves transparency, and makes housing policy accountable to people, not corporate landlords.

Renters gain stability and fairness. Homeownership via co-ops, shared equity, or public programs becomes attainable again. Young Canadians gain work experience, skills, and career pathways.

Indigenous-Led Housing Solutions:

Partner with Indigenous Leadership

The plan:

Provide sustainable, long-term, predictable funding to Indigenous communities to build housing.
Ensure Indigenous governments and housing providers have an equal voice in shaping the National Housing Emergency declaration and in the governance of the new national public builder.
Provide additional funding through Building Canada Together, giving Indigenous youth paid, practical experience helping construct homes and gain skills.
Housing stock on Indigenous land must be developed by Indigenous governments and aligned with community‑led land stewardship.

How it works:

Funding flows directly to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis governments, who manage construction and youth placements locally.
Remain flexible to the unique housing needs of Indigenous communities, regardless of where they are in Canada
Annual reporting ensures transparency, timelines, and results.

How it helps: Supports Indigenous self-determination, builds community capacity, ensures housing solutions are culturally appropriate and long-lasting, and gives young Canadians meaningful work and career pathways. It also ensures that Indigenous governments have shared decision-making power not just responsibility for program delivery.

End Homelessness:

No One Left Without a Home

The Problem: A lack of affordable and accessible housing options has forced more people into homelessness.

The Plan:

Stop the dismantling of encampments on federal lands and work with local authorities to develop a strategy to find permanent housing for people living in encampments.
Reverse Mark Carney’s cuts to the Interim Housing Assistance Program to support refugee claimants’ access to housing and services.
Create a Homelessness Prevention Fund to provide emergency rent relief for people and families at risk of immediate homelessness.
Expand federal support for Housing First programs, emphasizing permanent supportive housing with wraparound services for mental health, addictions, and employment readiness.
Provide permanent housing to people with chronic support needs and include conditions for health and social services in housing agreements with provincial governments.

How it helps: This approach moves Canada toward a coordinated national homelessness strategy, replacing reactive measures like encampment sweeps with permanent, compassionate solutions.

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A Place for Everyone:
A National Housing Emergency Plan

Stop Profiteering:

End Corporate Control of Housing

Build What Has Been Lost:

Public Builders, Co-ops, and Real Affordability

Make It Fair:

Security for Renters, Hope for Buyers

Indigenous-Led Housing Solutions:

Partner with Indigenous Leadership

End Homelessness:

No One Left Without a Home

Implementation and Accountability

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A Place for Everyone: A National Housing Emergency Plan

Implementation and Accountability

A Place for Everyone:
A National Housing Emergency Plan