Van den Berg made the comments during her testimony before the Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday, where she welcomed recent government actions including extending amortization periods for first-time home buyers and increasing the insured mortgage limit of $1.5 million.
“We commend the government for implementing these changes, but there still remain critical areas that require increased attention,” van den Berg said.
When asked if she believed the dream of homeownership was “dead” for many middle-class Canadians, as mortgage expert Ron Butler suggested in his own testimony earlier in the This week, van den Berg acknowledged the serious challenges facing Canadians, but expressed more hope. tone.
“Housing affordability remains the most significant financial challenge facing Canadian households today,” she said.
She noted that housing costs continue to outpace incomes, particularly in large urban centers like Toronto and Vancouver, where many families spend between 84% and 106% of their income on housing. “This is truly a national crisis that requires a coordinated effort at all levels of government.”
However, van den Berg stressed that while recent reforms are a positive step forward, much more needs to be done to “ensure access to property (and) that the dream does not die.”“
“This is not only an economic issue, but also a national welfare issue, which affects the social fabric of our communities,” she said.
The push for a national housing roundtable
Van den Berg highlighted two key areas that require immediate attention: extending the 30-year amortization to all home buyers and not just first-time buyers, and one of the MPC’s key policy demands, the creation of a national round table on housing.
“This roundtable will bring together all levels of government, industry leaders and civil society to engage in ongoing dialogue and develop long-term solutions to the housing affordability crisis,” van den Berg said. “While provincial and municipal governments have made commendable efforts to remove barriers to housing, a coordinated federal effort remains necessary.
She added that such an ongoing forum for collaboration “would ensure that Canada’s housing challenges are addressed comprehensively and demonstrate the government’s continued commitment to resolving this crisis.”
Additionally, the association is urging the government to combine the Home Ownership Plan with the First Home Savings Account to simplify the process for first-time buyers and help them better manage their savings for down payments .
Strengthening the need for digital income verification
Another key recommendation from van den Berg’s testimony was the call for a digital income verification tool, which she said would significantly streamline the mortgage application process and help reduce fraud.
“Currently, mortgage applicants must provide income verification using outdated, manual methods that are time-consuming and likely to be fraudulent,” van den Berg explained. She called for a secure digital tool through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) that would allow trusted third parties in the mortgage industry to instantly verify income, reducing fraud and improving efficiency for lenders and servicers. home buyers.
“Mortgage fraud is on the rise, and has been for some time,” she said. “A digital income verification tool is essential to combat this phenomenon while preserving data confidentiality. »
Equifax Canada reports that mortgage fraud is 30% more common than before the pandemic, while the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center reports that $569 million was lost to fraud in 2023.
On Tuesday, mortgage expert Ron Butler of Butler Mortgage, in his own testimony before the committee, expressed disappointment with the slow progress in implementing digital income verification.
The CRA initially committed to exploring a digital income verification tool as part of the spring federal budget measures, but there has been little progress on the issue since the announcement.
Butler noted continued delays in his testimony: “Nothing yet, and nothing until maybe next year,” he noted, expressing frustration at the lack of timely action. on a solution that could reduce mortgage fraud and streamline the home buying process.
“My greatest hope is that we can finally put an end to this problem of mortgage fraud through false income documents in Canada,” he said. “Because even if it’s not endemic, even a thousand is too many. And believe me, there are over a thousand (cases of mortgage fraud).”
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Last modification: October 25, 2024