Federal NDP leader draws attention to rising cost of homeownership during Windsor visit

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the Liberal government to step in and force the Bank of Canada to help Canadians as the costs of owning a home continue to rise.

“For a family that took out a 25 year variable mortgage recently, they're gonna see almost a $1,700 increase in their monthly mortgage payment,” Singh said while in Windsor Wednesday morning.

Singh drew attention to the rising costs of homeownership, critical in particular, with what he calls Justin Trudeau’s inaction against the bank.

“We need to see some aggressive measures,” he said.

Not only do they want the liberals to force the Bank of Canada to hold the line on rates, but also to follow the lead of other countries.

“In Spain, they force banks to give lower interest rates to families that are struggling, like Portugal has put it in a subsidy for people that can't pay their mortgage right now,” Singh explained.

But Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmiercyzk says managing the housing crisis isn’t just about mortgage rates.

“We brought forward a $4 billion housing accelerator fund to make sure we can partner with the City of Windsor and the Town of Tecumseh in order to build more affordable housing in this community,” he said.

Kusmiercyzk says there are 6,000 people in Windsor-Essex along who are on that wait list.