Housing advocates are lamenting “missed opportunities” in last week’s federal budget, saying more effort will be needed to accelerate home construction and bring prices down.

The Liberal government’s 2025 budget tabled Nov. 4 — its first under Prime Minister Mark Carney — pledged to spend $25 billion on housing over the next five years. The budget noted Canada’s “steep housing supply gap,” with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. estimating 430,000 to 480,000 new housing units are needed per year in the next decade in order to restore affordability to 2019 levels.

That would represent around double the current pace of home construction across the country. Canadian Home Builders’ Association CEO Kevin Lee called it an “aspirational” target and said there’s still much that would need to

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