BURNABY—Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh promised that if his party won the upcoming federal election, Canadians would see half a million new affordable-housing units built across the country in the next decade.

Singh said the NDP would encourage the construction of those units by removing the federal tax — either GST or part of the HST, depending on the province — on new affordable-housing projects.

The Liberals made a similar promise in their 2015 campaign, but the federal government has yet to implement it.

Singh added the NDP would also provide low-income renters who spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing with a subsidy. He did not elaborate on how much money renters would receive or how that subsidy would be delivered to families but said his party would release more details in the coming weeks.

First-time homebuyers would also receive more help from the NDP, said Singh, in the form of a $1,500 tax credit. The current homebuyer tax credit is $750.

He challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to implement these three policies immediately.

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“It’s a bold proposition, but we need to be bold,” said Singh.

The byelection candidate made the announcement Monday in a Burnaby-South neighbourhood that has seen dozens of demovictions in recent years.

“I have knocked on over a thousands doors and have talked with over a thousand voters in Burnaby South. It’s clear to me that the major concern people have is housing,” said Singh.

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s rental housing survey, Burnaby experienced a net loss of 712 rental units between 2010 and 2017, the biggest drop of any municipality in Metro Vancouver. In comparison, Vancouver saw a net increase of 2,452 rental apartments during that same time period.

Singh also said the federal government needs to invest in more co-op housing and other nonmarket models of housing but did not provide details on how the NDP plan to invest in those types of projects, if elected.

Singh is running in the Burnaby South byelection in hopes of gaining a seat in Parliament.

Longtime Burnaby resident Gordon Shank was walking on Marlborough Ave. on Monday when he saw Singh’s press conference. He stopped to hear what Singh had to say.

Shank told StarMetro after the press conference he was not convinced the federal leader’s plan would help local residents, many of whom are under threat of demoviction.

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“Demoviction was invented in Burnaby,” said Shank.

He worried that Singh, not being from Burnaby, would spend his time on national issues rather than local issues if elected.

It makes sense local voters like Shank, and by extension politicians like Singh, are paying special attention to housing policy, since Metropolitan Vancouver residents are facing some of the most dire housing affordability issues in the country, said urban planner Andy Yan.

But as with any housing plan, “the devil is in the details,” he said.

“There is a pretty big challenge in terms of where those affordable housing units will be built,” said Yan, director of the City program at Simon Fraser University.

Vancouver and Toronto’s housing landscapes are a far cry from the markets in Winnipeg or Edmonton, for example, he said.

In Burnaby, renters are struggling because developers are tearing down existing affordable rentals in favour of luxury developments.

“Here, it’s not just about building more rental,” said Yan. “It’s also about somehow protecting existing rental housing.”

Burnaby South is one of the most diverse ridings in the country — more than 68 per cent of 111,000 residents identify as visible minorities, with Chinese people accounting for the largest bloc — and last week’s byelection turmoil has sparked debate about how racial identity fits into Canadian politics.

The Liberals’ first candidate for that riding, Karen Wang, stepped aside last week after StarMetro Vancouver translated a WeChat post in which she urged Chinese-Canadians to vote for her, the “only ethnic Chinese candidate,” instead of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whom she described as “of Indian descent.”

Singh will face Liberal Richard Lee, Conservative Jay Shin, Independent Valentine Wu and Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson of the People’s Party of Canada in the Feb. 25 byelection.

With files from Cherise Seucharan and Melanie Green

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