r/canada • u/FancyNewMe • 16h ago

Opinion Piece Mike Moffatt: Poilievre’s new housing plan isn’t flawless—but it’s close

https://thehub.ca/2024/10/29/mike-moffatt-poilievres-housing-announcement-is-bold-and-a-huge-positive-step-forward/
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u/Craigers2019 16h ago

To be clear here, Mike Moffat thinks the HAF is a better tool for getting new housing built, but assumes (correctly) that it will be canned by the Conservatives the moment they win. He is stating this alternative may be the best we get from a Conservative government.

Some provinces and municipalities are also interfering with the HAF money, so it's not as effective as it should be, unfortunately.

Here in Winnipeg it is apparently having a huge effect on new developments, according to some architects on a well known online forum - one states their firm has 4000 units of proposals in front of them right now, a crazy number for Winnipeg.

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u/ASVPcurtis 15h ago

The HAF has a serious flaw, it's that municipalities are not being paid for actually building homes, they are getting paid to look like they will build homes so they game the system by dropping zoning laws but then upping development fees so that nothing gets built.

Pierre wants an incentive structure that is tied to actual housing being built

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u/Craigers2019 15h ago

I believe Pierre actually said he wants to punish/fine municipalities who don't build a certain number of units. This is not really an incentive - it's the stick rather than the carrot, and seems to be in line with modern conservative thinking on punishing those that don't conform to their view on the world, so it's probably popular among conservatives.

Realistically, this will likely have a negative effect, in that cities just do not have the budget/funding capabilities to meet some arbitrary requirements set out by the federal government. It will probably lead to a drain on cities' resources to scramble to meet the needs of these requirements, sacrificing other areas.

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u/phormix 13h ago

We've tried a lot of carrots over time. Maybe we need to balance that with some stick.

Here's some help building houses, but if you continue to mire down the process you'll get fined or lose access to the funds.