Canada is offering deals on 56 government-owned properties in an effort to spur construction of thousands of units of affordable housing.
Former military bases, postal facilities and federal office buildings are among the sites listed in the new Canada Public Land Bank database, the Canadian Press reported Sunday.
“We need to build more homes in Canada, and one of the largest costs in building is land,” Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement Sunday, according to Bloomberg.
The announcement came at the start of a three-day meeting of the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity has plunged due to the cost of living, especially high rents and home prices, Bloomberg said.
The available land covers more than 750 acres across the country, or what the Canadian government said was the equivalent of about 2,000 hockey rinks or 400 Canadian football fields, according to land bank website.
Parcels are located in 28 municipalities in seven of Canada’s 10 provinces, with more expected to be added as officials review vacant and underused federal buildings and land, the Canadian Press said.
The government is also creating a $370 million fund to buy other publicly owned properties for inclusion in the land bank, Bloomberg reported.
Plans for the land bank were announced in April as part of a wide-ranging plan to address Canada’s housing crisis, according to the Canadian Press.
A Canadian think tank, the Smart Prosperity Institute, has estimated that the country needs 3.5 million new homes and the government plan being led by Fraser would create as many as 3.9 million by 2031, Bloomberg noted.
Freeing up public lands for development could help create 250,000 housing units, according to the government.
Most of the properties won’t be offered for sale but will instead be subject to long-term leases to ensure the housing built there remains affordable, the Canadian Press said.
