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.

HANSARD: Jenny asks if the Canada Child Benefit will be increased by $500

HANSARD: Jenny asks the government to increase the Canada Child Benefit and double the GST rebate

HANSARD: Jenny advocates to stop the financialization of housing

MEDIA RELEASE - New Democrats are using their power to secure results that will make a big difference in people’s lives

In Budget 2022, the NDP secured dental care coverage for kids, help to pay rent for a million Canadians, and making big banks pay their fair share

OTTAWA – With today’s budget, the NDP used their power to secure results the Liberals haven’t delivered – results that will make a big difference in people’s lives. The cost of living has gone up and people are struggling to make ends meet. By asking the big banks to pay a little bit more, we can help families make ends meet with dental care coverage and help to find a home.

MEDIA RELEASE - Canadians need homes they can afford

A media outlet reported this week that the Liberal's housing strategy isn’t delivering the affordable homes people need despite the worsening housing crisis across the country.
Families aren’t finding homes they can afford in the communities where they live and work because rich investors are hiking up rent to maximize their profits. Nearly all the government's funding allocation under the Rental Construction Financing Initiative (RCFI) ends up in the pockets of for-profit developers who often have little interest in offering homes people can afford.
This Liberal government has been telling people that they are building more affordable homes, but the reality doesn't match the rhetoric. What the government deems affordable is way over the market price — families just can’t afford it. Currently, for many of the units created under the RCFI initiative, the rent is somewhere between 30 per cent and 120 per cent above market rent. It's laughable for the Liberals to claim that this is affordable. The NDP has been calling this out for years now and the program needs to change.

Mailer (Homelessness Crisis) Summer 2020

Mailer (Recovery for All) Summer 2020

OPEN LETTER to Deputy Prime Ministe and Housing Minister for nationalwide rent freeze and guaranteed income to protect Canadians

As you know, Canada was already experiencing a housing crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The added challenges and vulnerability faced by Canadians is exacerbating already existing issues, such as tenants facing renovictions and demovictions. Imagine being a vulnerable, low/modest income earner who is facing a loss of income during this time and having to navigate looking for a home at the same time!
Homeowners are also receiving mixed responses from their banks about the possibility of deferring mortgage payments, with some banks providing a deferral but not alleviating interest charges, while others are evaluating requests for mortgage deferral on a “case-by-case basis”. Some homeowners do not know if they will qualify at all for mortgage deferral, and they have not been able to contact their banks with all the phone lines being busy.

Affordable Housing