Freeland’s housing plan ties immigration to supply, cuts development charges

By Canadian Press on February 17, 2025.

OTTAWA — Liberal leadership hopeful Chrystia Freeland’s plan to fix the housing shortage would tie the number of new immigrants to housing availability.

The former finance minister makes the promise in a 10-point policy document her campaign sent out this morning, saying the move would slow down population growth until the housing affordability crisis stabilizes.

In the same vein, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been promising for some time now to tie immigration numbers to housing starts.

Freeland is also vowing to compel cities to slash their development charges to lower home building costs by withholding their infrastructure funding if they don’t comply.

She is one of five candidates vying to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, and has produced a flurry of policy ideas to help her stand out from the pack.

Last week, rival candidate Mark Carney pledged to incentivize building more prefabricated homes, but did not spell out the details of his plan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2025.

The Canadian Press