On April 20^th, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced the creation of the CMHC Rental Construction Financing initiative. This initiative will provide $2.5 billion in low-cost construction loans over four years to encourage the construction of new rental housing. This program is included in what was previously announced in the 2017-2018 budget.

These low-cost loans will be provided by CMHC directly and will assist in providing cost predictability during the earliest phases of development, including construction, lease-up and early stages of property operations. You can find out more information about the initiative at cmhc.ca/financinginitiative.

As well, today Minister Duclos announced that CMHC will make adjustments to CMHC’s multi-unit mortgage loan insurance products with the intention of improving access to mortgage loans for the development of affordable rental housing. The changes will come into effect on May 15, 2017.