New federal housing law bans Quebec health-care worker from buying home

Every time Laurie Carbonara passes a for sale sign in Longueuil, on Montreal’s south shore, she has to look away.

“I just wish I could buy a house to own and live in,” she said.

Since moving here last year from France, her goal of buying a home has been crushed, as a new federal law came into effect Jan. 1, banning non-residents from buying a house in Canada until 2025.

“There’s been a variety of statements made by the government, including that it would help with housing affordability and would prevent foreign buyers who don’t live here from acquiring properties,” said Michael Bourque, CEO of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). 

(Credit: Laurie Carbonara)

When Carbonara and her family of four started the immigration process, a year before moving to Quebec, she didn’t know this law was going to pass.

“Then during the course of the year, we heard of it, but we did not yet know the regulations that were going to be put in place and if we were going to be exempted or not,” she said. “We then realized at the end of 2022 that we were included and that we could not become owners for two years.”

Carbonara works as a nurse on Montreal’s south shore, on a temporary work visa, after arriving with her family last March.

(Credit: Laurie Carbonara)

“We wanted to spend a year living here before buying to see if we really liked it,” she recounted. “We had already checked with the bank to get a mortgage pre-authorization. The bank accepted because of our work permits and our contracts. The only thing casting a shadow is this law which prevents us from creating our home as we see fit.”

Exceptions to the law include Canadian citizens and permanent residents, some international students, refugees, diplomats, and temporary workers who have filed their taxes in Canada for three of the past four years. 

For Carbonara and her family, this means they are required to be tenants for two years with sky-rocketing rental prices.

“Now that’s about $45,000 to $50,000 that I’m going to have to put in a rental that I could have put in the house that I would have liked to buy,” she added.

As tenants, her family is limited in what they can do in the place, including having their dog join them from France. 

(Credit: Laurie Carbonara)

“It’s not an easy decision for somebody to uproot themselves and their families from their country and move to another country and to find out that you’ve changed the rules of the game on something that might have been a major motivator for them choosing Canada in the first place, I find to be particularly egregious,” said Bourque. “I think those people who are affected should be knocking on the door of their member of Parliament and voicing their displeasure.”

A few hundred people have signed the petition Carbonara launched, proving she’s not alone. One person commented on the petition saying, “Came to support the health system, and the political system prevents us from buying our main residence when we are here to help the Quebec population!”

“We don’t come to steal jobs from Quebecers, we come because we are needed,” Carbonara added.

CityNews reached out to the federal Ministry of Housing and Diversity, and pointed to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, who told us in a statement: 

“[…]The purpose of this temporary prohibition is to ensure housing is used to house Canadians, instead of being used as speculative investments by foreign investors.

[…] We know that speculative investments in real estate is contributing to pushing housing prices out of reach for too many Canadians. […] There are a number of factors that are making housing more expensive, but the biggest issue is supply. The supply shortage has made it difficult for many Canadians to find an affordable place to live in their communities, and speculative foreign investment in the housing market has exacerbated this problem.”

“If we buy a house, it’s not for speculation, we’re not investors,” said Carbonara. “We’re workers here to start a life and we need to project ourselves.”