Housing department briefing note confirms immigration is driving the housing shortage as Liberals prepare November levels plan

Ottawa, ON – Ahead of the release of this year’s Immigration Levels Plan, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s housing department has admitted in a briefing note that high immigration levels remains a key driver of Canada’s housing shortage. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, recently suggested to the New York Times that immigration levels should be increased.

Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, says the contradiction is yet another proof point that leaves the Liberal government no room to raise levels in next month’s Immigration Levels Plan.

The note concedes for the first time that the Liberals’ target of 500,000 housing starts a year will not be met this decade. Demand is outpacing construction, and “one of the drivers of the housing shortage has been the strong growth in housing demand driven by immigration.” It comes weeks after the department, responding to an Order Paper question from Jacob Mantle, Conservative Member of Parliament for York–Durham, said its performance framework for Build Canada Homes would “move beyond measuring outputs such as housing counts,” with no mention of the 500,000 target.

“This is the government’s own housing department saying the quiet part out loud,” said Rempel Garner. “They know immigration is driving demand faster than we can build. They know the 500,000-home target is dead. The Prime Minister’s response is to increase immigration levels, and Canadians know that makes no sense.”

The numbers are stark. Housing starts will keep falling to 247,000 in 2026, 223,000 in 2027 and 216,000 in 2028. In 2024 alone, roughly 482,000 new households formed while only about 277,000 homes were completed.

“Raising immigration levels wouldn’t be fair to anyone,” said Rempel Garner. “It isn’t fair to the young Canadian couple who can’t afford a home to start a family. It isn’t fair to the newcomer who was promised opportunity and ended up in an overcrowded basement suite or a shelter. If Mr. Carney knows his own department is saying that we’re falling further behind every year, why is he planning to raise immigration levels? And where will the people already here raise their families?”

“The first job of immigration policy is successful integration into Canadian life, not feeding corporate business models built on out of control immigration levels,” she continued. “Housing, healthcare and jobs haven’t kept pace. Raising levels now would make a bad situation worse for everyone.”

Conservatives are calling on the government to use the upcoming plan to:

  • Bring immigration levels down;
  • Track whether temporary residents actually leave when their status ends;
  • Remove those with no legal right to remain; and
  • Set levels in consultation with the provinces based on real capacity in housing, healthcare and jobs.

“Mark Carney’s own officials have told him there aren’t enough homes,” said Rempel Garner. “The Prime Minister should listen to them, and to Canadians, and reject any increase in November.”