[homeles_ot-l] FW: Federal budget 2011 does nothing to reverse erosion in national housing / homelessness spending

[Lynne Browne]

FYI from Michael Shapcott at the Wellesley Institute 
Lynne Browne
Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) 
613-241-7913, ext 205
lbrowne at ysb.on.ca <mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca>  
147 Besserer St., Ottawa ON  K1N 6A7 
www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/>  

________________________________

From: hhno-on-owner at povnet.org on behalf of Michael Shapcott
Sent: Tue 22/03/2011 5:55 PM
To: Michael Shapcott
Subject: [hhno-on] WI backgrounder: Federal budget 2011 does nothing to reverse erosion in national housing / homelessness spending



< full posting, including hyperlinks, available at http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/blog/affordable-housing-blog/federal-budget-2011-nothing-to-reverse-erosion-in-national-housing-homelessness-investments/ <http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/blog/affordable-housing-blog/federal-budget-2011-nothing-to-reverse-erosion-in-national-housing-homelessness-investments/>   >

 

The 2011 federal budget - released earlier this afternoon - does nothing to reverse the two decades of erosion in federal affordable housing investments (as set out in the Wellesley Institute's Precarious Housing in Canada 2010 <http://wellesleyinstitute.com/news/affordable-housing-news/new-report-precarious-housing-in-canada-2010/> ). 

 

The latest federal budget, which may not be implemented as all three opposition parties have indicated that they do not support it, offers no new investments in housing or homelessness. 

 

The latest federal spending estimates <http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/uncategorized/latest-federal-spending-estimates-confirm-sharp-cuts-to-national-housing-homelessness-investments/> set out a 39% cut in housing spending in the coming year, an 11% cut in federal homelessness spending and a 70% cut in federal homelessness research funding.  

 

The latest corporate plan from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation <http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/about/anrecopl/upload/resource_requirements.pdf> , the federal government's housing agency, show a 24% cut in housing program spending by the year 2015 and a 10.4% cut in the number of households receiving federal assistance.

 

Federal budget 2011 does include a list of national housing investments from previous years. These include an uptick in 2006 when the federal government allocated $1.4 billion in affordable housing investments authorized by the 2005 Parliament, and another uptick in 2009 when the "stimulus" budget allocated about $2 billion to affordable housing investments. In its latest report to Canadians on the 2009 budget <http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/eng/feature.asp?pageId=223> , the federal government notes that housing investments deliver a powerful economic and job impact - five times greater than corporate tax cuts.  Both allocations were short-term and the overall trend in federal housing investments has been downward, including cuts in funding for new homes in 1993 and downloading of existing federal housing programs to most provinces and territories starting in 1996. That same year, the federal government set in place an automatic 'step-out' in federal housing investments that is reflected in the CMHC corporate plan projections.

 

The word 'homeless' only appears once, on page 122, in the entire 352-budget document. In that section, the federal government acknowledges the 'complex and continual social challenges' facing people who are homeless and others, and promises to "take steps to complement community efforts by encouraging the development of government / community partnerships, enabling communities to tackle local challenges and testing new approaches to improve performance". The federal budget says that details will be announced "over the coming months".

 

-          Michael 

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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

 

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