Housing need and affordability challenges expected to grow under Liberals

VANCOUVER— Today, a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) shows the Liberals' National Housing Strategy is smoke and mirrors. Under the two largest housing programs, the PBO shows Liberals have been spending less than half of the funding they’ve announced. The report concludes that they expect the housing need and affordability gap for families in Canada to grow under the Liberal government.

“More and more Canadians find themselves unable to afford a home, six years under the Liberals and the pandemic have made things even worse. Today’s report confirms that the Liberals are failing Canadians on housing while patting themselves on the back for a job well done,” said MP Jenny Kwan, NDP Critic for Housing. “While the Liberals continue to misrepresent what they have been doing to address the housing shortages, New Democrats remain committed to the creation of half a million new social housing units.”

The government claimed to have built 37,300 new units under their two largest housing programs, but the report shows they’ve only approved funding for less than half of that. Meanwhile, 183,000 social housing units have stopped receiving federal support since the Liberals came into power.

Since launching the housing strategy four years ago, the Liberals have also failed to keep their promise to create a “For Indigenous, By Indigenous” Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous housing strategy. Indigenous people are 11 times more likely to use a homeless shelter. New Democrats continue to support calls from Indigenous housing advocates for the government to finally present the strategy and reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in core housing need.

“Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has consistently left Canadians behind. Today’s report confirms that the housing crisis is only expected to continue getting worse under the Liberals,” said Kwan. “The federal government once played a key role in supplying affordable housing, which was cut and neglected by decades of Liberal and Conservative governments. Housing is a basic human right and only the NDP is fighting for Canadians to have a safe and secure place to call home that recognizes this right.”