Government banks on foreign labour to ramp up home construction
Canada is granting permanent residency to more skilled construction workers this year as part of its efforts to increase housing supply, Bloomberg reported.
Government data showed that admissions of permanent residents with trade skills like carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work jumped 29% in the first three months of 2024 versus the quarterly average for all of last year.
If that pace continues, around 17,800 skilled construction workers will receive residency in 2024.
“We’re at the point in Canada where we need to look at any contribution to accelerate the pace of housing starts,” Mathieu Laberge, senior vice president at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), told Bloomberg. “Labour is one of many. We also need to look into how we can build differently to build faster.”
The increase is driven by recent changes to Canadian immigration policy to bring in more tradespeople to ramp up homebuilding. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has set a goal to more than double the pace of construction to add 3.9 million homes by 2031.
Last August, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Canada's first-ever targeted selection program to expedite permanent residency for newcomers with critical trade skills and experience.
Despite Canada's aggressive efforts to increase its population through immigration to boost the workforce, the pace of housing construction has not kept up with the influx of new residents.
Over the past two years, Canada welcomed 2.4 million people – more than the population of New Mexico – but added only enough housing for the number of residents in Albuquerque.
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The Bank of Nova Scotia has pointed out that the population growth rate in Canada last year was far above what could be considered productivity-neutral.
Bloomberg suggested that a more sustainable rate would be closer to that of the United States, where fewer than 10 new residents are added per 1,000 each year, compared to Canada's 32 per 1,000 residents.
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