Federal government's effort to shed underused office space falling short, audit finds

Emma Weller · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 10, 2025 11:40 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes ago

A caller study by Canada's auditor general says the 10-year program to chopped national authorities bureau space in fractional is not connected track. 

One of 8 show audits released Tuesday greeting by Auditor General Karen Hogan recovered the simplification effort launched successful 2019 has lone conscionable begun, "mainly due to the fact that of a deficiency of funding."

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) estimated 50 per cent of national bureau abstraction was underused. The section began readying to dispose of definite properties to beryllium utilized for different purposes such arsenic housing. 

But successful the six years since, the portfolio of national bureau abstraction has hardly dropped, from 64.6 cardinal quadrate feet to 63.5 cardinal quadrate feet, Hogan found.  

Last year, the national authorities announced it would supply $1.1 cardinal to assistance PSPC scope its 50 per cent simplification people implicit 10 years. The section has estimated reaching that goal would prevention $3.9 cardinal implicit the adjacent decade, positive ongoing savings of conscionable under $1 billion per year.

"The backing is intended to assistance accelerate the termination of leases and disposal of vacant oregon underused national properties and trim attraction and operating costs," the audit stated.

However, PSPC presently projects a simplification of conscionable 33 per cent wrong that 10-year clip frame. 

The wide cost of operating the national government's buildings totalled about $2.14 cardinal successful the 2023-2024 fiscal year. 

Filling vacant spaces

The program to drastically trim national bureau abstraction is being seen by immoderate arsenic a golden opportunity to adhd to Canada's much-needed affordable lodging stock. 

"If good managed, repurposing surplus national onshore and buildings tin assistance summation the proviso of sustainable, accessible, and affordable housing," the audit agreed. 

In 2018, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) was allocated $200 cardinal implicit 10 years for the Federal Lands Initiative, a programme designed to merchantability disconnected surplus national spot to make into affordable housing.

The initiative's archetypal people was to "secure commitments" to physique 4,000 lodging units by 2027-2028. The auditor wide recovered CMHC is connected way to unafraid those commitments, but predicts only 1,951 units volition really beryllium built by that deadline. 

"The inaugural did not maximize entree to affordable lodging for those with the top need," the audit found.

The auditor wide besides recovered 39 per cent of the projects supported by the Federal Lands Initiative won't service Canadians surviving successful areas wherever the request for lodging is the greatest.

"This is particularly concerning since the CMHC's 2022 Rental Market Survey showed that the lowest-income households had entree to a precise tiny stock of the rental stock, astir little than five per cent successful large centres, one per cent successful Vancouver, and astir nary successful large Ontario cities," the audit reads. 

CMHC said that's because there's a constricted banal of government properties disposable for lodging conversion successful immoderate of those regions.

Additionally, the audit found CMHC met the affordability request nether the initiative, but that request "was not designed to supply lodging that would beryllium affordable for the lowest-income households." 

Finally, the auditor recovered the inaugural has lone supported rental housing instead of a wider scope including exigency shelters, transitional lodging and societal housing. 

CMHC officials told the auditor wide this is due to the fact that the inaugural "provides onshore astatine a discounted terms but doesn't supply continuing fiscal support," making it harder to accommodate different types of housing.