Canada budget pours $5 billion into supportive housing while still bending over backward for developers and foreign capital
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The 2026 budget promises $5 billion over ten years for supportive housing, renews the foreign home-buyer ban with a new loophole for brand-new units, and boosts funding for Build Canada Homes, even as critics warn that affordability remains hostage to market interests.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s second budget unveiled a $5 billion long-term commitment to build supportive housing intended to help end homelessness within a decade, together with a renewal of the Canada Housing Benefit that will cost $1.7 billion in the first three years. The plan also sets aside just under $2 billion for infrastructure on federal lands and raises total funding for the Build Canada Homes program to $45 billion, including a $13 billion injection for new investments.
Alexi White, director of systems change at the charitable foundation Maytree, said the funding suggests a stronger plan than earlier promises and pointed out that provincial governments will have to share operating costs for the supportive housing projects, which will include health-care, mental-health and addictions services. That caveat underscores how much of the heavy lifting still depends on provinces stepping up rather than Ottawa fully shouldering the social burden.
The budget extends Canada’s foreign home-buyer ban, which was set to expire on Jan. 1, 2027, but adds an exemption that allows foreign purchasers to buy newly built residential units. The Canadian Home Builders’ Association welcomed the change, saying it protects affordability in the existing market while encouraging new supply. Senior economist Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called the exemption a “big loophole” and warned it could weaken affordability for new builds, even as he acknowledged the overall ban remains popular.
Additional measures are meant to make financing easier for multi-unit developments. Mortgage-insurance rules will be relaxed for three- and four-unit projects, and private insurers will be allowed to cover loans on developments of up to 50 units, removing previous limits on property values and residency requirements. The changes are expected to improve construction financing for developers and homeowners seeking to redevelop properties, with implementation slated for Feb. 1, 2027.