91èÏÈÉú

TheÌýfederal government released their 2021/22 budgetÌýMonday.ÌýÌýinvestmentsÌýwithÌýover $2.5 billion in new funding andÌýan additionalÌý$1.3 billionÌýmoved forward inÌýpreviously promised housing investment.ÌýBut it doesn’t go far enough.

By Tim Richter
President & CEO, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

Canadians have been suffering under the man-made disaster of massÌýhomelessnessÌýfor over 30 years. Homelessness has touched over 36% of Canadians including an estimated 1.6 million who have personally experienced it. The pandemic hasÌý, compounded Canada91èÏÈÉú lethal overdose crisis,Ìýand as I write this, theÌýthirdÌýwave of the pandemic is mercilessly tearing through shelters, encampments and low-income, racialized and female-ledÌýhouseholds.ÌýÌý

In that context, the federal government announced their long-awaited budgetÌýMonday. The budget contains some important new investments in housing and homelessness,Ìýbuilding on the National Housing Strategy.ÌýWhileÌýBudget 2021Ìýdoes not go far enough or fast enough,Ìýtaken together with the National Housing Strategy,ÌýitÌýdoes make someÌýimportantÌýprogressÌýtoward ending homelessness.

Here are 10ÌýhighlightsÌýabout housing and homelessness measuresÌýcontainedÌýin the budgetÌýwith thoughts onÌýhow Canada can get closer to ending homelessness.ÌýÌý

1. Budget 2021 contains an expansion of the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI).
   The budget expands the RHI with a new $1.5 billion investment. The strength of the RHI lies in its ability to create deeply affordable or supportive housing for very low-income people by converting non-housing facilities into affordable housing. This rapid creation of affordable and supportive housing is a smart investment that has the potential to lift thousands of people out of homelessness quickly.Ìý
   Ìý
   ToÌýmake the most of this investment andÌýsupport the federal goal of ending chronic homelessness,Ìýthe government will have toÌýspecificallyÌýprioritize people experiencing homelessness and people in extreme core housing need,Ìýand it will need to help communities find the funding forÌýthe Housing First-based,Ìýwrap-around supportsÌýnecessary to help people with complex needs.ÌýWithout this focus, the government risks spending the money a mile wide and an inch deep, diffusing its potential impact and leaving the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness out in the cold.ÌýÌý
2. A welcome $567 million in new funding for Reaching Home.
   Reaching Home is the federal government91èÏÈÉú flagship homelessness program. It provides critical funding to over 66 large communities plus Indigenous entities as well as northern and rural communities across the country. Through the pandemic, the federal government more than doubled their funding for Reaching Home, which has been a lifesaving investment.ÌýÌý

   Reaching HomeÌýwillÌýplay a leading role in achieving the goal of ending chronic homelessness.ÌýThis program isÌýeffective because it91èÏÈÉú the money communities use to organize and build data-driven homeless systemsÌýand it leverages the millions of dollars spent from other sourcesÌýin each community.ÌýÌýIt91èÏÈÉú not yet known how this new funding will be allocatedÌýbut it will be important to address critical gaps in homelessness for women, in rural communities, youth homelessnessÌýand prevention.Ìý

   Importantly,Ìýto achieve the goal of ending chronic homelessness,Ìýthe governmentÌýmustÌýensure that ReachingÌýHomeÌýworksÌýhand-in-glove withÌýtheÌýCanada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).ÌýToday,ÌýCMHC andÌýReaching Home operateÌýseparatelyÌýandÌýoftenÌýCMHCÌýhousingÌýprograms and investmentÌýdo not align with the goal of ending chronic homelessness.ÌýIn any strategy to end chronic homelessness,ÌýReaching Home and CMHC will have to alignÌýtheir efforts.Ìý

3. Beginning the end of veteran homelessness.
   A welcome and exciting new investment in Budget 2021 was the creation of a $45 million, two-year pilot project aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through the provision of rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans. This is the long-awaited response to the by Liberal MP Neil Ellis, seconded by Conservative MP Karen Vecchio and former NDP MP Sheri Benson. While details are yet to be confirmed, this pilot seems to model the highly effective US HUD VASH program that has been instrumental in cutting veteran homelessness in the United States in half. Recently, the City of London achieved functional zero veteran homelessness and with a program like this, many other cities will follow suit.
4. No Urban Indigenous Housing Strategy.
   Perhaps the most glaring and disappointing gap in Budget 2021 is the lack of dedicated funding for an Urban Indigenous Housing Strategy. Over and they are dramatically overrepresented in homelessness.ÌýÌýÌýÌý

   IndigenousÌýPeoples who do not live on reserve or in-home communities require a distinct housing strategy. ThereÌýmustÌýbeÌýan adequately resourced Urban and Rural Indigenous Housing and Homelessness Strategy that is developed and implemented by urban, rural and Northern Indigenous peoples and housing and service providers.

5. Little new dedicated affordable and supportive housing construction.
   An estimated 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness every year and 1.7 million households are in core housing need. The National Housing Strategy aims to create between 150,000 to 160,000 units of new affordable housing over 10 years – much which will be unaffordable to those experiencing homelessness or core housing need.ÌýÌý

   To have a fighting chance at ending homelessness and addressing housing need,ÌýCanada will need to build at least 300,000Ìýnew deep subsidy, permanently affordable and supportive housing units and ensure those units are specificallyÌýprioritizedÌýto people experiencing or at greatest risk of homelessness.

6. If you’re in a hole, stop digging – addressing the financialization of rental housing.
   Budget 2021 introduced a tax on vacant non-resident, non-Canadian owned residential real estate, but it did not address the financialization of rental housing.ÌýÌýÌý

   When investors buy up rental housing, they deepen Canada91èÏÈÉú housing crisis by taking existing rental housing off the market or by increasing rent,Ìýmaking it unaffordable. This leaves lower income Canadians facing eviction unable to afford rent or to live in the communities they choose.ÌýÌý–Ìýthis isÌýmore than double what the National Housing Strategy promises to create.ÌýA first step in solving Canada91èÏÈÉú housing crisis,Ìýmust be to keepÌýit from getting worseÌýby limiting the ability of large capital funds (including Real Estate Income Trusts) to purchase ‘distressed’ rental housing assets.Ìý

7. Addressing housing need and homelessness for women.
   Budget 2021 introduces a $315.4 million increase in the Canada Housing Benefit to support women and children fleeing domestic violence and requires 25% of RHI housing be allocated toward women-focused housing projects. These are important investments that point to the gendered nature of core housing need in Canada – a fact that COVID-19 will only exacerbate. The Canada Housing Benefit would be a much more effective housing intervention for women if it were an entitlement-based benefit that was provided based on need. Further, the National Housing Strategy already allocates a minimum 25% of all housing investment to women, but it is unclear if they have been successful nor is it clear whether National Housing Strategy programs reach the women in greatest need.Ìý
8. Addressing rural and remote housing need?
   Housing need and homelessness are not just city issues. According to the , rural communities make up 30% of Canada91èÏÈÉú population but do not have the same access to housing or homelessness funding through Reaching Home and the National Housing Strategy. Homelessness in these communities is out of sight and out of mind, if for no other reason than it has not been measured or studied as it has in the cities. Budget 2021 does make investments in northern housing, but it91èÏÈÉú unclear at this point if new Budget 2021 investments will reach rural and remote communities.Ìý
9. Preventing a COVID-19 wave of new homelessness.
   The federal government has done a very good job of supporting Canadians through the pandemic. A clear gap in that response, however, is the lack of a program to support households facing eviction. . This will only grow as the third wave of the pandemic hammers low-income (largely racialized and female) households. Canada is facing a potential wave of pandemic related homelessness and these households are the leading edge of that wave. ÌýÌýÌý
10. Consistent with the right to housing?
    In 2019, Canada passed the National Housing Strategy Act, which enshrined the . International law requires states to use the maximum available resources, over time, to meet their housing obligations while prioritizing those in greatest need. States are expected to set ambitious national goals with timelines, targets and outcomes relating to homelessness and housing. The National Housing Strategy Act was founded on the government91èÏÈÉú explicit policy commitment to this understanding. Budget 2021 and the National Housing Strategy together make important progress on the progressive realization of the right to housing, but do not meet the standard set out in international law.Ìý

Introduced in 2017, the National Housing Strategy representsÌýthe ambitious return of the federal government to leadership on resolving this crisis.ÌýIn 2019,ÌýParliament passed the National Housing Strategy ActÌýenshriningÌýthe right to housing in law and in SeptemberÌý2021, the federal government promised toÌýeliminateÌýchronic homelessness.ÌýÌý

Monday91èÏÈÉú budget builds on the National Housing Strategy and takes some importantÌýsteps toward ending homelessness, but it does not go far enough.ÌýMeasures in the budget will surely lift thousands out of homelessness but will leave too many behind for too long.ÌýÌý

The CAEH and our partners will continue toÌýwork withÌýthe federal governmentÌýto close the gaps in the National Housing StrategyÌýandÌýend homelessnessÌýin Canada, once and for all.ÌýÌýÌý

To the people we serveÌý– those of youÌýwho are grappling with theÌýindignity,Ìýdanger,Ìýstress and trauma of homelessnessÌý– I wish we had homes for all of you today, but we don’t. What we do have is the resolve to get there as fast as we can. And we won’t stop until we do.Ìý

Watch the Budget 2021 Round Table with Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Canada91èÏÈÉú Minister of Families, Children and Social Development following the April 19 federal budget announcement.

Allied Networks React to Budget 2021: