In October 2018, Canadians went to the polls. No party emerged as a clear winner. Advocates with long experience are saying this presents an opportunity to make housing more affordable for households struggling most with housing costs.
Ed Broadbent, Chair of the Broadbent Institute, is one person who sees an opportunity. He reflects that minority governments (when no single party holds a majority) were in place when Canada launched a number of programs that help its citizens, including medicare, a national pension plan and making same sex marriage legal. In the most recent election, polls indicated that voters placed a high priority on affordability. With a minority government, Broadbent argues that there is more opportunity than usual to put changes in place to make it possible for Canadians have an affordable life.
The Broadbent Institute has teamed up with the Wellesley Institute to press the call for affordable housing.
The two Institutes identify three actions to make housing more affordable. First, to provide immediate relief for households with high housing costs, they call for implementing housing allowances. This would put additional funds in the hands of people with low incomes and high housing costs to make their housing more affordable. A housing allowance is part of Canada’s 2017-2026 National Housing Strategy, but has yet to provide direct benefit to a single household.
Second, they propose placing priority on constructing new housing that will be affordable for people with very low incomes and for people who need housing supports. New housing that is affordable to people with very low incomes offers the prospect of housing that will continue for years to come.
Third, they advocate building up the country’s commitment to housing as a human right, which was approved in legislation in June 2019. The legislation creates a National Housing Council and a Housing Advocate and charges them with acting as the country’s conscience to implement programs and structures that will make housing a human right in practice. The Institutes argue the case for making sure there is sufficient funding and latitude for the Council and Advocate to do their work. They also outline priorities for the Housing Advocate’s work to make the position effective.
Why does this matter elsewhere?
There are elements of this very Canadian story that should be of interest to people who are working to make housing more affordable, regardless of where they live. These include
- Looking at the past to identify an opportunity.
- Starting with issues that are shared by a majority.
- Relying on a sound base of evidence. The issues of affordability and health were validated through independent polling. The connection between housing affordability and health has been established through painstaking research.
- Integrating with the positions of other advocacy groups. The call for affordable and supportive housing is drawn from the work of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
- Putting forward a position that will help in the short term and set the stage to ensure the issue of affordable housing receives attention and action in the long term.
You can read more about this at the Broadbent Institute: Building Health: Canada’s Opportunity To Improve Housing Affordability
