Trade war will make housing crisis worse, Greens say
Mike Schreiner used a campaign stop in Kitchener on Monday to pitch his plan to build more homes, saying a protracted trade war with the U.S. will deepen the housing crisis.
“Industry experts are saying the trade war is going to make the housing affordability crisis even worse, because we do billions of trade with the U.S. We import $3.5 billion worth of glass for the construction sector alone,” the Green Party leader said.
He said a Green government would launch a “first-time homebuyers plan” that includes:
- Legalizing fourplexes and four-storey buildings right across Ontario, and sixplexes in cities with more than 500,000 people.
- Legalize buildings of six to 11 stories along major transit routes and main streets.
- Eliminate development charges on new homes under 2,000 square feet, built within existing urban boundaries.
- Scrap the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers.
The moves would save first-time buyers as much as $150,000 on a new home, he said.
Schreiner also took aim at Ford and his Greenbelt land swap controversy.
“The only homes that Doug Ford seems to want to build are mansions in the Greenbelt, benefitting wealthy land speculators and putting the profits of those speculators over the affordability needs of first-time home buyers,” he told a crowd of supporters.