Affordable Housing

HUMA#77: In Camera Meeting on Financialization of Housing

HUMA#76: In Camera Meeting on Financialization of Housing

Toronto Star: As support for Liberals slides, NDP ramps up focus on housing solutions

NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan said that while she had spoken to Housing Minister Sean Fraser since he took on the role in late July, she was looking for “real bold action” and “a reality check of what’s going on” in the government.

The upcoming fall economic statement is one place where Kwan will be pushing to see some of that action, including commitments to build more social and co-operative housing.

“We have to treat housing with a rights-based approach to it. And so we’re going to drive that agenda,” she told the Star.

CBC: Singh launches broadside against Poilievre as New Democrats prepare for Parliament's return

Singh launches broadside against Poilievre as New Democrats prepare for Parliament's return

NDP caucus chair and housing critic Jenny Kwan said New Democrats will use their leverage with the Liberals to ensure the government's fall economic statement promises swift action on the housing crisis.

"We need ... real commitments in the fall economic statement for the government to understand the crisis that is there with respect to the housing situation," Kwan said.

The housing crisis will be high on the agenda when the New Democrat caucus meets in Ottawa today ahead of what's expected to be a busy parliamentary sitting.

No date has been announced for the release of the fall economic statement, which provides a snapshot of government spending and the outlook for the Canadian economy. Such statements also can contain new spending measures.

Kwan said the NDP will press the Liberals to expand the not-for-profit housing market and build more housing co-operatives. She said New Democrats also will pressure the federal government to change the initiatives that accompany the national housing strategy, which she said have not been "particularly effective."

The federal NDP currently holds the balance of power in the House of Commons. The Liberal minority government relies on New Democrats' votes to pass legislation through a formal agreement that both parties signed.

Under the terms of that confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP agreed to support key government legislation in exchange for the Liberals advancing a number of NDP policy priorities.

Media Release: Liberals must invest in long-term housing solutions

Liberals must invest in long-term housing solutions

In response to the federal government’s announcement on shelters for refugees in Toronto, NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan issued the following statement:

Chek News: Nanaimo family moving to Alberta as housing crisis, inflation continues

They say the problem is that not enough homes are being built and corporations are buying some of the ones that are.

“That’s why we are fighting to address the issues that we’re seeing around the financialization of housing, to see a national acquisition fund and to see a moratorium on large corporations swooping in and buying those affordable homes,” said Lisa Marie Barron, MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

“The largest real estate investment trusts over the last number of years benefitted $1.7 billion that they did not pay,” said Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s Housing Critic as she criticized how corporate taxes are set up.

Nanaimo News Now: Housing headlines federal NDP B.C. caucus meeting in Nanaimo

Barron accused the Liberals of using housing “as a commodity” while suggesting proposals from the federal Conservatives failed to look at issues around affordability.  She said a moratorium needs to be put in place to prevent corporate landlords “swooping in” to purchase low-cost units.

“We know at one point we had a government where our federal government did invest in co-op housing, social housing, we need to see that happening again.”

Barron’s comments were echoed by caucus chair and Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan who said the issue dates back to the 1980s and 1990s when the private sector was embedded in the real estate and housing market.

“These are corporate landlords that are coming in and they started to buy up the existing, private, low-cost rental apartments. When they buy them up, it’s not like they’re fixing them up and putting them on the market at the same rate. They’re jacking up the rent, evicting people…and escalating the housing crisis.”

CBC: The House’s summer series, Backbencher’s Backyards

Interviewed by Anne Penman for The House’s summer series, Backbencher’s Backyards.  Despite someone yelling “You don’t belong here Jenny Kwan. Communist pig, go home!" while Jenny and Anne were discussing the impact of foreign interference and racism, "I know in my heart that this is not a true reflection of Van East.”

Hill Times: Canadians do have a choice: they have the NDP

As opposition, the NDP has tried to make Parliament work for Canadians. This is in direct contrast in both substance and style to the Conservatives.

The supply-and-confidence agreement reached with the Liberals over a year ago was an exchange of promises. Under ordinary conditions, the NDP wouldn’t fold Parliament for the sake of an election if the Liberals agreed to implement some key NDP policies. The national dental plan is a direct result of that agreement: making Parliament work for Canadians.

The NDP has seen a small rise in polling numbers, but if an election were to be called this fall—or in a year from now—its actions would certainly be viewed positively by Canadians. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s stature has risen as a direct result.

In an election, the Liberals would find it less than easy to condemn the NDP, with whom they have been partners. Many political disagreements make the relationship between the NDP and the Conservatives difficult. The stance on women’s abortion rights being one of them. 

 

Media Release: NDP secures critical funding for Indigenous housing through Confidence and Supply Agreement

OTTAWA – On Thursday, NDP Critic for Housing, Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and NDP Critic for Indigenous Services, MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) secured $287.1 million for National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI) to address the housing crisis for Urban Rural and Northern Indigenous, Metis and Inuit people leaving away from their home community. Under the Liberal government, Indigenous people are now 11 times more likely to use a shelter or live in inadequate homes than non-Indigenous people.

New Democrats have been relentlessly pushing for the government to close the funding gap. Today's announcement wouldn’t have been possible without New Democrats who forced the government to act by including support for Indigenous housing in their Confidence and Supply agreement with the Liberals.