As part of his continued pre-budget spending pledge tour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised an increase of $15 billion along with reforms to "stimulate" the current federal apartment building loan program.

Regarding this loan offer, Trudeau says the federal government also plans to launch a new initiative called "Canada Builds" to help build more rental housing across Canada.

Modeled after the "BC Builds" program, the goal is to allow provinces and territories to access federal loans in order to "launch their own ambitious housing plans," including the development of more low-rise and high-rise apartments affordable for middle-class Canadians.

As with other new federal housing spending commitments, access will depend on meeting all program criteria, plus a series of additional standards.

To benefit from this funding, provinces and territories will have to commit to spending their own money on housing, plan construction on government land and vacant land, and reduce development approval timelines to no more than 12 to 18 months.

Trudeau said on Wednesday that the goal is to help make it possible so that more people can live where they work, something Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said is an urgent challenge for her city as they try to employ more first responders, care workers, and nurses.

However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed on Wednesday that his government will not sign any federal funding deal that requires building more fourplex complexes.

Ford told reporters in Vaughan on Wednesday: "It’s not the province’s right to dictate where every building goes." "I believe in letting municipalities decide what is good for their communities."

Amid Ford’s and other provinces’ opposition to his conditional approach, the Prime Minister said today that while it would be "easier" to send the money at the provincial level, federal Liberals are happy to work with specific municipalities if their provincial leadership is 'not willing to play ball.'

Trudeau said at the Toronto announcement, "It’s not fair that young people who have a good job, can’t afford a place to live, and can’t even imagine being able to buy a home one day, this is what we’re trying to change."

The $15 billion loan will now become a $55 billion fund providing low-cost financing to homebuilders to help finance the program’s goal of building more than 131,000 new apartments over the next decade.

The federal government also plans to reform the program to increase access and make it easier for builders to get shovels in the ground.

This will include extending loan terms, expanding access to financing to include housing for students and seniors, and allowing builders to move forward on multiple construction sites at once.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Liberals will also launch a new "recurrent building flow" to speed up application times for "accredited homebuilders."

Since its launch in 2017, the government says the apartment building loan program has allocated more than $18 billion to help build over 48,000 new rental homes.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser, speaking alongside Trudeau, said: "It’s not just about low-cost financing to build a building that would have otherwise been built differently. We get something in return for providing this low-cost financing."

Builders who use the apartment building loan program commit to certain affordability requirements to ensure that a portion of the units is actually available to people earning an average income in a given housing market.

Trudeau and his government hold daily press conferences to unveil parts of the upcoming 2024 federal budget, which will be presented on April 16.

So far, budget announcements have focused on housing as a priority — specifically "building more homes faster" — while the Liberals try to target younger voters.

According to the 2021 census, Canadians under the age of 26 are more likely to rent their homes rather than own them, and they spend more of their paychecks on shelter compared to older Canadians.

Before Wednesday's press conference, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office sent a series of statistics about Canada’s housing crisis, framing the ongoing budget tour as a "photo opportunity" that will not build more homes.

Among the metrics cited by federal Conservatives was a new RBC report on housing affordability, which indicated that middle-income households would need to spend 63.5 percent of their income to cover the costs of owning an average-priced home.

In 2015, the same measure required 39.3 percent of income.

Conservative MP and housing critic Scott Aitchison said: "After eight years of Trudeau’s government, the average home price in Toronto now exceeds one million dollars, and the average two-bedroom apartment rent has doubled to over $3,200 per month."

"Justin Trudeau’s response has been to re-promote the failed loan program that only resulted in 11,000 homes completed over seven years."

The federal New Democratic Party was also unimpressed.

NDG MP and housing critic Jenny Kwan said: "Loans offered to profit-driven developers dominate Trudeau’s isolated housing strategy, which does not help Canadians who need affordable homes. Today, the Liberals announced $15 billion for a program where 97 percent of units produced are: 'unaffordable.'"

In a Tuesday interview promoting that day’s announcement — the launch of the new $6 billion “Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund” — Fraser admitted it "may be the best part of a decade" before Canadians begin seeing a return to housing affordability levels similar to previous generations.