In recent months, there have been a number of renewed calls for the Government of Canada to remove its Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the cost of building secured purpose-built rental housing.

Advocates calling for the move assert it would have a meaningful impact on the financial viability of building much-needed rental housing, enough to push projects across the line into the realm of viability amidst the highly challenging market and inflationary conditions.

Michael Geller, a prominent Vancouver-based planner and an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Sustainable Development, says it would be a “game changer” by removing a “big upfront cost.”

Moreover, new condominium projects already benefit from not having to pay the 5% in GST. The homebuyer, not the developer, ultimately covers the GST, he says.

Such a policy change would essentially expand this relief for developers into new rental housing projects.

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