Across Canada, there are a significant number of properties that are underutilized or vacant – ranging from unused basements, to empty office towers, to vacant lots – and these can be used to build more homes.

By making it easier for homeowners to add secondary suites to their existing homes, and opening up vacant land and unused federal properties for housing, we can build the supply of homes Canada needs to make housing affordable for every generation.

Furthermore, Minister Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, alongside Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, and Minister Terry Beach, Minister of Citizens' Services, announced significant progress in the federal government's work to provide more land in our communities for housing.

First, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced technical guidelines for lenders and insurers to offer mortgage refinancing to homeowners looking to add secondary suites to their homes, starting January 15, 2025.

These mortgage insurance reforms, along with the upcoming Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program, will make it easier for homeowners to convert an unused basement into a rental apartment or a garage into a tiny home to increase density in our communities.

Secondary suites can also help homeowners pay off their mortgage with new rental income while bringing families closer together.

For example, a retired couple may want to downsize to a new home or in-law suite, so their children can raise their small families in the current family home.

More specifically, these changes will:

Allow for insured mortgage refinancing for secondary suites, enabling homeowners to tap into the equity in their homes to finance the construction of secondary suites.

Borrowers will be able to access financing of up to 90 percent of the home’s value, including the additional value created by the secondary suite, with the refinanced mortgage term extending up to 30 years.

Increase the maximum insurable house price for mortgages to $2 million for those refinancing to build a secondary suite, ensuring that homeowners can access this refinancing across all housing markets in the country.

Secondly, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance launched consultations on taxing vacant land.

The federal government is also seeking feedback from interested provinces, territories, and municipalities on implementing their own vacant land taxes.

By taxing vacant land, landowners will be incentivized to maximize the full potential of their land for building homes.

Thirdly, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement announced that 14 additional unused federal properties have been identified as suitable for new home construction.

With the addition of these extra federal properties to the Canadian public land bank, a total of 70 federal properties are now open and available to home builders as of today.

This is part of the federal government’s work – as the largest landowner in Canada – to convert unused and underutilized federal properties into 250,000 new homes.

The federal government will also implement its ambitious plan to build 4 million homes using all available tools.

The measures announced today relate to maximizing the use of available land in our communities – by transforming unused basements, vacant land, and unused federal offices into homes – to build a country where everyone can afford a home they can call their own.