As Kingston housing prices skyrocket, NDP plan helps first-time buyers

KINGSTON — Kingston saw the highest increase in housing prices in Canada in 2021, and Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is in town Thursday to offer first-time homebuyers a lifeline — a plan to help with their down payment, and to increase supply of homes they can afford.

The NDP’s Homes in Ontario Program (HOP), part of the NDP’s comprehensive housing platform, increases supply — especially “missing middle” homes attainable for first-time buyers — and gives those first-time buyers up to 10 per cent of the price of their new home as down payment support.

“I’ve heard from people who can’t afford to stay in the neighbourhood they love, so they’re forced to move further away from their support systems and their jobs. I’ve even heard from people that are putting off growing their family because they can’t afford a big enough home,” said Horwath.

“The NDP has a plan that offers hope. I want people to be able to afford the life they’re working for.”

The average price of a home in Kingston increased by 44 per cent in 2021 — the highest rate of increase in Canada. The average price of a single-family detached home in now $780,000.

In Horwath’s HOP program, homeowners would have the flexibility to buy back the government’s share, or repay the loan only if and when they move and sell their home.

“Kingston is a beautiful place to live, work and raise your family,” said NDP candidate for Kingston and the Islands, Mary Rita Holland. “Young people shouldn’t have to live in their parent’s basement for years on end because they can’t afford to move out. Hard working people shouldn’t have home-ownership forever out of reach.

“Steven Del Duca and the Wynne Liberals let housing prices rise far too fast, and now Doug Ford has let them fly right out of control. I’m so thrilled that Andrea and the NDP have laid out a plan to help everyday people.”

The NDP plan makes major investments to increase the supply of homes. It guarantees that homeowners can build basement suites or laneway homes, and updates land use planning rules to accelerate the development of communities. The NDP plan also helps make sure more homes are for people, instead of speculators looking to drive up prices and make a mint. To accomplish that Horwath and the NDP will regulate short-term rentals, add a vacancy tax, and add a non-resident speculation tax — discouraging speculators that don’t live or pay taxes in Ontario, and making Kington properties more available and affordable for Kingston families.

Background

• As part of the broader Homes You Can Afford: The Ontario NDP’s Plan for Housing, the Homes in Ontario Program (HOP) would provide first-time home buyers with household incomes under $200,000 access to home equity loans of up to 10 per cent to help with their down payment. Home owners would then have the flexibility to buy back the government’s share or repay the loan only if and when they move and sell their home.
• The NDP will create a revenue-neutral fund to finance repayable loans as a part of the HOP. That fund will be self-sustaining. Gains in the fund over time will be used to maintain the fund.
• To take on speculators and cool the market, the NDP will increase the Non-Resident Speculation Tax from 15 to 20 per cent, expand the tax to apply everywhere in Ontario, and introduce an annual speculation and vacancy tax on residential property, among other measures. The NDP will also rein in pre-construction condo flipping and regulate short-term rentals. Horwath’s platform also closes those loopholes that let some greedy, wealthy speculators off the hook.
• The NDP’s plan also helps 311,000 households province-wide pay the rent with direct financial support, builds 69,000 affordable homes and 30,000 homes with supports, and recommits Ontario to the goal of ending homelessness within 10 years.
• An Ontario NDP government will create a new Residents’ Rights Act to make it easier for homeowners to convert an unused garage, basement or floor of their home into an affordable rental home.

Quote

Brandon Crausen
“My wife and I are searching for a home to start our family in, so that we can build a future here in Kingston. Just like my parents did, and my mother’s parents. Unfortunately, that same house I lived in as a child now costs anywhere from two to four times as much.

Getting together the money to afford a down payment for a home of that price has been so incredibly challenging for us. The opportunity to have down payment support during this journey to own a home would be the difference for not just us, but for so many people our age.”

Press conference video:https://www.facebook.com/100044127531830/videos/981972539104705