The full recommendation has a second part, to Invest in the acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of new and existing public, non-profit, and cooperative-owned housing that meets the unique and varied requirements of people experiencing core housing need and homelessness. That second part recognizes that we need capital investments to build new units, funds to buy existing affordable buildings to preserve their affordability, ongoing subsidies to keep rents low, operating costs for support services for those who need them, and ongoing capital investments to maintain and preserve the existing and future stock.
Who is behind this campaign? The Manitoba Research Alliance began the process, with the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (at McMaster), the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association (our guest speaker Jacob Gorenkoff on October 24 works for them), Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network, Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network, National Right to Housing Network, and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. More than 100 other organizations have since supported the call.
Social housing is non-market housing, so it doesn’t need to make a profit. With government subsidies, it charges affordable rents, often tied to less than 30 per cent of gross household income. Canada once built 20,000 such units a year but stopped in 1993 and has built relatively few since.
Is 50,000 a year enough? No. But a minimum of 50,000 a year for 10 years is three times what the current federal National Housing Strategy proposes to build and much more than the number of deeply affordable housing the strategy is actually producing.
How was that target calculated? Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has projected the need to expand overall housing supply by building 5.8 million homes over the next decade (580,000 per year). Because a third of households are renters, 194,300 of that supply should be rental. Approximately one quarter of renters are in core housing need, so a minimum of 48,575 (round up to 50,000) of the units should be at rent geared to income rents to lift those households out of core need.
The target is “net new” units—new units minus any units lost—so the campaign calls for the federal government to provide measures to preserve existing non-profit housing units.
What about other levels of government? The expansion and preservation of social housing across Canada will require a significant funding commitment from the federal government. This call to action is focused on achieving that commitment. It provides a concrete goal targeting one level of government that individuals and groups from across the country can mobilize through a coordinated national campaign. Provincial and territorial levels of government have important roles to play in the expansion and preservation of social housing, as well as for the health services some tenants will need and sufficient social assistance incomes that some of the tenants will need. Individuals and organizations at the local level will need to come together to implement strategies/campaigns targeting local levels of government that complement the work happening at the national level. Among other things, cities control planning approvals and the consultation needed with neighbours of these proposed new housing units and can provide land to lower capital costs.
Support this campaign here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBBXHFy35IE1wEzKkbfyXjEcvosIid9n5mUkQtLuSzOfhImg/viewform