[homeles_ot-l] Federal budget repeats last year's housing promises, but have they delivered? FW: WI backgrounder

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . . Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Cell 613-513-6647

Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> 

  _____  

From: nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org [mailto:nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org] On Behalf
Of Michael Shapcott
Sent: March 4, 2010 6:26 PM
To: Michael Shapcott
Subject: [nhhn-can] WI backgrounder: Federal budget repeats last year's
housing promises, but have they delivered????

 

Today <http://www.budget.gc.ca/2010/home-accueil-eng.html> 's federal budget
confirms the housing promises made last year (about $2 billion in new
spending, mostly for new homes and repairs to existing housing), but adds
nothing new (see page 236 of the main budget document). The budget says: "In
total, over 3,500 projects are underway across the country to improve
housing conditions for some of the most vulnerable in our communities,
including seniors, single-parent families, recent immigrants and Aboriginal
households."  This is a significant change from the report tabled in the
Commons by federal housing minister Diane Finley in November in which she
reported that about 3% of the federal dollars had been committed. 

 

As noted in our
<http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/blog/fed_budget_2009__billions_in_new_hou
sing_spending__but_not_for_those_who_need_it_the_most/>  initial analysis of
the 2009 federal budget, about half of the federal dollars that were
promised were to go for social housing repairs (about 5% of Canadian
households), with the rest being divided among seniors, on-reserve
Aboriginals and a small amount for people with disabilities. The remainder
of Canadians who are precariously housed (including families, youth,
Aboriginal people living off-reserve, people living in substandard private
rental housing, single people) got no new help last year - and they were
also left out of this year's budget.

 

The details of the projects "underway" are not provided by the federal
government. The bulk of the funds are flowed through the provinces and
territories, which makes it even harder to trace the dollars. The Ontario
<http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en09/312en09.pdf>  Auditor General
reported in November that the Ontario government was unable to properly
account for hundreds of millions in federal housing transfer dollars. The
Ontario Auditor General also noted that more than half the new homes funded
by the federal-Ontario program had rents that were unaffordable to
households on affordable housing waiting lists.

 

The bottom line: Good news that the feds will keep the housing funding
promises that they made last year, bad news that there is no new help for
the millions of Canadians who are precariously housed - and it remains to be
seen just how many new homes will actually be created by the federal
government's budgetary promises, and whether those homes will be truly
affordable to the people who need the housing the most.

 

-          Michael

 

***

 

Michael Shapcott | Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation |
Wellesley Institute 

45 Charles St E, Suite 101                    Tel: 416.972.1010 ext 231
Toronto, ON, Canada,  M4Y 1S2           Mobile: 416.605.8316  
E-mail:   michael at wellesleyinstitute.com

 

www.wellesleyinstitute.com

rigorous research. pragmatic policy solutions. social innovation. community
action.

 

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