Affordable Housing and Homelessness

Across this country, we have an affordable housing crisis.

People are living in tents. People are “couch-surfing”. Home ownership is all but a dream for many.

Imagine what our communities would look like if an additional half a million units of affordable housing were built across this country.

The reality is that families, individuals, single parents and seniors alike are unable to obtain safe, secure, and affordable housing. This is a very real struggle for so many in Vancouver East and across the country. This national problem is of crisis proportions and is steadily worsening. For example, 2018 statistics for the City of Vancouver showed the highest number of people living homeless since the first regional homeless count in 2005. Indigenous peoples face even larger barriers to securing safe affordable housing, and accounted for 40% of the homeless people living in the region, despite being only 2.2% of the overall population. These numbers are unacceptable, because each number represents people in our community who are in crisis.

Our current housing crisis started in 1993, when the Federal Liberals cancelled the National Affordable Housing Program.

As a result, this country lost out on half a million units of affordable housing that would otherwise have been built.

The impact is real and significant. I have met school children who tell me that they are worry about their housing situation. Women who were fleeing domestic violence are left with no choice but to return to the abuser because she cannot secure housing. Families had their children apprehended for no other reason other than the fact that they could not meet their housing needs. The homeless population are becoming more desperate. In one instance, I learned that a fight broke out because people were fighting for awning space in an attempt to stay dry as heavy rain poured down. It is high time for government to deliver what so many across the country have called for – a National Affordable Housing program.

Housing is a human right
Speech delivered on January 31, 2019 in favour of the NDP Motion to take immediate action on Canada’s Housing Crisis.

VIDEO: CPAC Special - 2023 NDP Convention - Interview with MPs Jenny Kwan and Laurel Collins

NDP MPs Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and Laurel Collins (Victoria) speak with CPAC’s Michael Serapio on the final day of the federal party's policy convention in Hamilton, Ontario. The MPs face questions on challenges facing their party, and what they can learn from their provincial counterparts on organizing and winning elections.

Kenora Online: NDP pushing the Grits on housing

Housing continues to remain a hot topic in the House of Commons.

In response to a question from the NDP, Housing Minister Sean Fraser admits the GST rebate on new builds is not enough on its own.

"We're going to continue to make investments in low cost financing to build more homes that ordinary people can actually afford. We've advanced programs in the past and will continue to in the future to directly subsidize the kinds of homes low income people need to build."

Meanwhile theNew Democrats are pushing for an acquisition fund for the non-profit sector to stop the loss of low cost housing to profiteering.

Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan notes the failings of previous governments have led to dire straits.

"The average rent in Canada is now over $2100 a month, in Vancouver its over $3000, time for bold action."

The Liberals say there must be an increase of availability in the market and have the government encourage the construction of both low and mid-income housing.

HUMA#78: In Camera Meeting on Finanancialization of Housing

CPAC: NDP Respond to Conservatives’ Housing Plan

HEADLINE POLITICS
NDP MPs Respond to Conservatives’ Housing Plan – September 21, 2023
At a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, NDP critics Jenny Kwan (housing) and Daniel Blaikie (finance) discuss Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s recently-tabled bill to address the housing crisis.

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.

Affordable Housing