Ottawa studying ‘rapid housing’ concept
Government will provide funds if provinces step up with support services, minister says
Ahmed Hussen knows all about the need for a roof over your head.
Canada’s minister of families, children and social development lived in public housing when he grew up in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood.
“It wasn’t the best environment,” he told the Star during an interview on Friday, “but just having that roof over my head enabled me to go to university and finish my undergrad and get a job.”
For thousands of Canadians staggering through the COVID-19 pandemic, that struggle is all too real, and advocates see next week’s throne speech from the federal government as a platform for Ottawa to put forward a housing strategy to address homelessness.
Earlier this month, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) asked for about $4 billion from Ottawa to help non-profits buy up 22,000 housing units in hotels and apartment complexes across the country.
Hussen said he’s received the FCM proposal and that he’s “seriously looking,” at it, but will need to “see if that fits into our fiscal abilities.”
“Our track record shows that we’ve always respected municipalities, worked closely with them and allowed them to build more housing,” he said.
During a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said the federal government should help “secure these properties and get people off the street before they endure another winter and a pandemic, which is just a morally unacceptable option — to leave people out in the cold in a public health emergency.”
Hussen was noncommittal about the FCM plan when speaking to the Star and wouldn’t provide a timeline for when a decision on it might come.
However, the “rapid housing” concept appears to be getting looked at closely in Ottawa. Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, Hussen’s parliamentary secretary, told the Star’s Victoria Gibson this week that Ottawa is working on a “fairly sizable proposition” around allowing municipalities to buy up vacant properties.
Vaughan didn’t provide specific details about the proposal, but Hussen said he would “look at everything with an open mind,” when asked about Vaughan’s comments.
The minister did have some thoughts about wraparound supportive services in housing strategies generally and what Ottawa’s role should be.
Hussen said the federal government can provide capital to allow municipalities and non-profits to buy up property, but when it comes to services, the provinces must be on-board with a plan for proper supports to be maintained.
“If they deliver those supportive services for a segment of the chronically homeless individuals, we will deliver the capital dollars for the housing — make no mistake about that,” he said.
But, he cautioned, “It’s not as simple as just building homes.”
Hussen said he’s been looking at what funding was available for the $4-billion proposal from the FCM. The federal government previously announced a 10year, $55-billion funding stream for housing under the National Housing Strategy, which has a goal of creating 100,000 new housing units.
“I have to see whether, as a minister, that is something that we can deliver through the National Housing Strategy,” he said.
“If all of it cannot be delivered through the National Housing Strategy, what other resources can I seek from my government?”
In Toronto on Friday, Hussen also announced that the government, in partnership with the United Church of Canada, would work to get 5,000 new affordable housing units built across the country over 15 years. A $20-million line of credit for that project will come from a $200-million government fund that was already earmarked for affordable housing initiatives.
Canada sees about 35,000 homeless people on any given night, and around 235,000 people experience homelessness every year.