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September 9th, 2019

Adam Vaughan and the Liberals Paint a Pretty Picture of Their Housing Record While Experts Say “Not Much is Happening”

As the Liberals gear up for an election, Justin Trudeau and his team are working hard to sell their bad housing record.

  • In January, Liberal housing point person Adam Vaughan admitted that Trudeau’s claims on his record were inflated “to rhetorical advantage.” (Toronto Star)
  • And just a few weeks ago, Vaughan claimed a planned sale of the Queens Quay lands without affordable housing was out of government’s hands. The next week, the Liberals reversed course in the face of pressure from Jagmeet Singh and Councillor Joe Cressy. (Toronto Star)
  • In May, University of Toronto Professor David Hulchanski said that “the Liberal Party and even CMHC have mixed all these together into big sounding amounts, as if a great deal is happening. But not much is happening in terms of meeting housing need and existing spending on housing remains at a historically low percentage of the federal budget.” (Globe and Mail)
  • Professor Hulchanski also pointed out that “the lowest year for housing expenditures since the 1970s was 2016, when housing accounted only 0.7 per cent of the federal budget.” (Globe and Mail)
  • And this week, a report notes that the federal government is doing “little to help” growing challenges with homelessness. (Ottawa Citizen)

But as Vaughan and Trudeau double count housing units to cover up their record, people are struggling.

  • A recent report by Royal Lepage found the median price of condos in the GTA has risen 9% in the last year alone. (Toronto Star)
  • In Toronto and Vancouver, there are no neighbourhoods left where a person putting in full-time work for minimum wage can afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. (CCPA)
  • And the Canadian Rental Housing Index shows that one in five Canadians have to put more than half their paycheque into housing – leaving little for other necessities like food and medication. (Georgia Straight)
Spadina—Fort York NDP Candidate Diana Yoon: “Justin Trudeau and Adam Vaughan are giving us pretty words on housing, but they’ve given tax breaks to their rich friends instead of investing in the housing people need. Canadians deserve better. Jagmeet Singh’s New Deal for People would create half a million quality, affordable homes, provide relief for renters struggling to get by, and take action to end the speculation that’s pricing people out of communities across the country.”