It also does not provide support to those who are most in need.
In a time when communities across America are experiencing an increase in the number of homeless and housing needs, the current budget for the federal government fails to provide something new to tackle the problem Canada confronts.
With a million newcomers to the country, an influx of homelessness due to a rapid rise in inflation and an enormous decrease in affordable housing, the budget must implement a comprehensive plan to tackle Canada’s housing shortage.
“It’s evident there is a sense that federal officials can not understand the magnitude and importance of the crisis, and they have not offered any solution,” says Tim Richter, the President and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH). “For hundreds of Canadians who won’t be able to pay rent in the coming week, it is unlikely to find relief or any meaningful assistance within this budget. Many others could end up in the terrifying experience of being homeless.”
The CAEH applauds the measures that will increase the amount of money in the wallets of Canadians who struggle to make ends meet. However, the “Grocery Rebate” that was that was announced today would do little to help those who are in most need. Canadians are seeing the cost of their groceries increase by nearly twice the inflation rate. Rents have also increased up to 20% in the major cities. An unrestricted payment of a small amount of money will do nothing to fill the income gap and the actual cost of necessities Canadians must pay for.
The rising cost of living is causing an issue of homelessness comparable to one of Canada’s most devastating natural catastrophes. Within a representative sample of 14 communities with quality information, 79 per cent experienced an increase in chronic homelessness from 2020, and overall, the increase was 34 per cent. 74% of Canadians say that homeless people are rising within their community.
The only solution to stop the rising number of homeless is by providing targeted rent help such as that provided by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit. The benefit will provide significant rent assistance to the least vulnerable Canadians. It could stop up to 385,000 individuals currently being forced out of their homes and help the more than 50,000 individuals with chronic homelessness find permanent housing.
Stopping this surge of homelessness will cost less than responding to it. In the absence of providing the assistance needed right now, it will become difficult for government officials at the Federal level to practice budgetary discipline as they and different levels of government must respond to the enormous humanitarian crisis caused by the crisis of widespread homeless.
It does contain 4 billion dollars to fund the Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy. This is a good thing. However, it falls less than what’s necessary. The budget also states that the program will be implemented through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and not through an Indigenous-led group. We ask that the federal government allocate the funds directly to National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. (NICHI) in line with Canada’s obligations in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The CAEH has also praised measures to assist vulnerable Canadians in gaining the required benefits. Advancements in automatic tax filing for people with lower incomes Canadians will allow more Canadians to gain the benefits that they’re entitled to as well as new rules on lenders that are predatory businesses will safeguard the most vulnerable. Additional funding for safe-consumption websites and re-evaluating the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy are also welcomed.
Ultimately, the budget is unable to tackle Canada’s critical homelessness and housing crisis. The budget does nothing to stop the rising tide of homelessness, which is breaking down in the communities of Canada. It does nothing different to deal with the lack of housing that is affordable and is not enough to help ease the pressures of living costs that Canadians have to endure.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness is a campaigner to alter the budget and will insist that Federal government officials react quickly to the country’s challenges.
