The federal liberals unveiled their plan to solve the housing crisis, based on recent announcements of new tax incentives, over a billion dollars for the homeless, and nationwide efforts to build more housing on public land.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Vaughan, Ontario today, Friday, saying, "Today we are launching the most comprehensive and ambitious housing plan ever in Canada."

He continued, "It’s a plan to build housing, including for renters, on a scale we haven’t seen in generations. We are talking about building nearly 3.9 million homes by 2031."

The parliamentary budget officer issued a report on Thursday estimating that Canada will need to build 3.1 million homes by 2030 to close the housing gap.

The 28-page liberal plan, which comes just days before the federal budget, is the latest effort by the minority government to set an affordability agenda as it loses significant ground to the conservatives on cost of living issues.

Ottawa also sends a message to provinces, territories, and municipalities that they will also need to ramp up efforts, describing the plan as a "call to action."

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in an interview, "There is no way that one level of government can solve the national housing crisis on its own."

"But if we work together... and create incentives to encourage each other to adopt policies that would help us get to where we want to be, I know we can accomplish this important task."

The liberal plan promises to address a range of challenges Canadians face regarding housing affordability, from the distant dream of homeownership to high rental costs to homelessness.

While a large part of the plan was announced during the government's last round before the budget or even earlier, many new measures have been put in the document, including expanded tax incentives for building homes.

The federal government intends to increase the capital cost allowance rate for apartments from 4 to 10 percent, which will increase the amount that construction companies can write off their taxes.

It is also expanding the scope of the Goods and Services Tax exemption on rentals for student housing constructed by public universities, colleges, and school boards.

The plan also allocates more funds to address homelessness as communities across the country struggle with camps and limited shelter space.

The liberal government is also boosting the Reaching Homes program, a federal initiative on homelessness, with an additional billion dollars over four years.

In addition, $250 million more is allocated to help communities end camps and move people into housing. The federal government is asking provinces and territories to match this amount.

The liberals also promised a "historic transformation" in how government uses public land to build homes, which will include making more land available for home building and leasing land instead of selling it, in addition to preventing big corporate investors from purchasing existing single-family homes.

Other items in the plan include training more skilled workers, facilitating the recognition of foreign credentials, and enhancing productivity in the construction industry, measures that would expedite the home-building process.

The federal government also promised to help families reduce energy bills, including through launching a new program that will support energy-efficient retrofits for low- to moderate-income households.

The Canadian Home Builders' Association praised the liberal housing plan, stating that the plan paves the way for a "comprehensive approach" to addressing housing affordability.

Its implementation, in part, will depend on cooperation from provinces and territories, some of which have already opposed the federal government over what they consider to be overreach of jurisdiction.

Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick were unhappy with Ottawa's decision to make access to new infrastructure funds conditional on a set of requirements, including the legalization of four-story apartment complexes.

But Fraser responded to those criticisms, arguing that Canadians just want to solve their problems.

Fraser said, "When people come to the door of my constituency office and they have a problem, the last thing they want to hear is that it’s not my responsibility to help them."

He added, "So from my perspective, it was important to do what we can to meet the challenge and to show Canadians that even in the presence of technical jurisdictional hurdles, that wouldn’t give us a reason to do anything less than our very best."

As the liberals aggressively sell their housing plan with the federal budget set to be released on Tuesday, its reception among Canadians will depend on whether they still trust that the current government can solve their problems.

The federal conservatives, who have maintained a lead of no more than 10% in public opinion polls since the summer, have succeeded in convincing a large swath of voters that the liberals only exacerbate the cost of living issues.

Conservatives have largely dismissed the recent housing announcements from the government, claiming that pouring more money into "government bureaucracy" will not solve the housing crisis.

Scott Aitchison, the conservative housing critic, said in a statement, "Justin Trudeau's shallow announcements and his billion-dollar photo ops do not change the reality that his strategy has doubled housing costs over the past eight years."

The New Democrats responded to the housing plan on Friday with a similar attack. In his statement, housing critic Alexandre Boulerice said, "Canadians can't trust the liberals to fix the problem they created."

Fraser acknowledged that conservatives have succeeded in capturing Canadians’ attention regarding housing, but said their solutions fall short of what is required.

"I think it's dangerous for politicians to seek to exploit people's real fears without doing anything to help them. Fraser said, "That leads me to believe that the motivation behind that is more their appetite for political power than helping the people who are suffering."

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the government should get out of the way and allow developers to build more homes, with his proposed housing plan heavily focused on demanding cities increase homebuilding by 15 percent each year to receive their usual infrastructure spending, or risk having their funding withheld. Those who build beyond the target would qualify for "bonus" incentives.