Housing-focused federal budget a boon for young Calgarians

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The federal budget unveiled Tuesday promises to restore “generational fairness” for younger Canadians, with a large focus on housing, though it’s left some wanting more immediate action in other areas.

As she tabled the document in the House of Commons, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said it’s “harder to establish yourself” for young people than it was for older generations.

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“It really isn’t fair what they are struggling with right now,” Freeland told a news conference earlier in the day, before her budget speech.

The budget promised $8.5 billion in new spending over the next five years to build millions of new homes, and nearly $2.6 billion to enhance student aid and grant programs and open up new job opportunities.

The deputy prime minister’s comments and the budget’s focus on affordability echo the thoughts of many young Calgarians right now, said Meaghon Reid, the executive director of Vibrant Communities Calgary, an advocacy group that focuses on poverty-related issues.

“Some promising moves, but we’re not seeing the urgency or level of detail that we need to address immediate affordability challenges,” Reid said.

She said while the budget makes some positive movement for affordability, the timeline is still concerning. Calgary’s vacancy rate is expected to dip as low as 1.1 per cent this year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., leaving many Calgarians struggling to find housing.

“We were really pleased with the housing investments . . . the urgency of building new housing just can’t be overstated,” said Reid.

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Housing needed in Calgary

In addition to significant housing investments unveiled over the past few weeks, the 2024 budget contains a commitment to “unlock” federal properties across the country for lease to housing providers. That includes federally owned land in the southwest Calgary neighbourhood of Currie, which will allow the construction of almost 100 homes.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters Tuesday afternoon she didn’t have any details about that, but “any units that we can get built will be beneficial for Calgarians.

“My concern is that while we are focused on the 60-plus people that are moving here every day — and we need to make sure we’ve got housing for all of them — there are people who have lived in the city for a long time that are struggling with affordability and with housing, so we need to make sure that this federal budget is focused on everyone,” Gondek said.

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Gondek lamented that the budget does not contain a solution as to how Ottawa distributes funds to municipalities.

“That is something that we’ve been asking for for some time,” she said. “I would really like to see some sort of a process whereby provinces and municipalities can be engaged with the federal government to find a more permanent funding solution.”

Budget focuses on young voters; could affect seniors

Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said the budget’s focus is on young voters — the same demographic that helped thrust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau into power in 2015. Promises related to affordable housing and student grants all play well with younger Canadians, said Williams.

“That’s been pretty clearly signalled, but not exclusively, obviously,” she said. “They had job creation and that focus on this idea of expanding the middle class, that’s going to appeal to young people and others, as well.”

While a wealth tax did not pan out as rumoured, an increase to the capital gains tax — going up from 50 per cent to 66 per cent on gains for businesses and for those that exceed $250,000 for individuals — may punish some older people who’ve owned their homes for longer, and wealthier people and business owners. The tax is set to net the federal government $19 billion over the next five years.

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“That might be a point of some adjustment, and the finance minister has acknowledged this is going to be controversial,” she said. “And so we’ll have to wait and see what the response is. But to the extent that this might affect seniors more than others, that’s certainly a political risk that potentially could be problematic.”

Overall, the budget projected spending will rise to $535 billion in 2024-25, compared with $497.5 billion in 2023-24. The deficit is projected at $39.8 billion, compared with $40 billion last year.

There is $11.5 billion in new spending this year, and $53 billion over the next five years.

— With files from The Canadian Press

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

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