A confidential cabinet memo revealed the federal government knew it couldn’t meet its housing targets, despite public promises last year.

“Under current rates of production Canada’s construction industry is not projected to meet the housing supply needed to address demand and restore affordability,” said the Briefing Note To The Minister Of Housing. 

The memo admitted that many first-time buyers couldn't afford housing, reported Blacklock’s.

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020 the average price of a home in Canada has risen by nearly 30 percent, rising from an average of $540,000 in February 2020 to over $700,000 in April 2024,” it said. “This increase was uneven among Canada’s various regions.”

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“It was baloney. They said it anyway. And they knew it the whole time.”

PODCAST: @HICC_ca memo confirms Liberal cabinet knew they could not meet own housing targets.https://t.co/f4EOGpb5S7 pic.twitter.com/5YNuGTBQAv

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) March 20, 2025

To make matters worse, then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised homes for young Canadians months before cabinet wrote that memo. “Our renewed focus is unlocking the door to the middle class for millions of younger Canadians,” she told reporters April 12 prior to her last budget.

Sean Fraser, then-Housing Minister, testified before the Commons human resources committee on May 9, vowing to resolve the housing crisis. 

“I am going to be the person who actually goes and does it,” Fraser declared, though the housing memo burst that bubble.

He was dismissed from cabinet last December 20 after declaring he would not seek re-election days earlier.

"By his own admission, the Liberal immigration policies have caused massive housing, job and health-care shortages": Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blasts PM Trudeau's new video where he admitted mass immigration was a failure.https://t.co/TXq29qhTJo pic.twitter.com/zeMIMSGZri

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 18, 2024

“This rampant incompetence has caused human misery, both for newcomers and for multigenerational Canadians,” Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, previously told Global News. 

“By his [Trudeau] own admission … Liberal immigration policies have caused massive housing … shortages,” Poilievre said. “And now he’s basically denouncing his entire immigration policy and expecting us to believe that he can fix the problems that he caused.”

Despite high demand, home construction has stagnated and worker productivity has decreased over the past two decades, reported Blacklock’s.

“To meet estimated housing targets Canada’s average construction rate would need to increase from 220,000 new homes built annually over the last five years to 700,000 housing starts per year, an increase of 220 percent,” said the June 18, 2024 memo.

“Contributing to this increase is the increased cost of building a residential home over the period, up 58 percent, as well as an unprecedented period of population growth in Canada as demand for housing has and is expected to continue to outpace the housing eco-system’s current rate of supply,” it said.

PM Trudeau, after years of the Liberals supporting mass immigration, announces a reduction to "give all levels of government time to catch up ... to accommodate more people in the future."https://t.co/TXq29qhTJo pic.twitter.com/FMzxRraLCW

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 24, 2024

A 2022 memo blamed Trudeau and his immigration policies for the housing shortage. According to documents obtained by The Counter Signal, Secretary of the Cabinet Janice Charette claimed then-immigration quotas worsened the crisis.

The federal government vowed to gradually decrease the number of permanent residents it accepts annually from 485,000 in 2023 to 395,000 this year, and 365,000 by 2027. Canada’s housing shortage, however, will remain despite the new immigration targets, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The negative impacts of this shortage can be felt across the country,” reads the June 18 memo.

Housing costs in Canada are at a 41-year high, with 55% of household incomes paying for the mortgage. Meanwhile, the rental vacancy rate is at a record low (1.5%), making affordable accommodations hard to find.

An additional 3.5 million housing units need to be built by 2030, beyond the 2.3 million already projected to be built, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).