The Canada Housing Benefit — A Journey In Wonderland?

Alice in Wonderland at a tea party with the March Hare, the Mad Hatter and the doormouse

A rent supplement program in the Canadian province of New Brunswick excludes people with disabilities. This seems odd, as people with disabilities have higher housing costs and lower incomes than the population as a whole.

That’s not the end of the story, though. The federal government contributes 50% of the money spent through New Brunswick’s rent supplement program. The federal contribution is part of the National Housing Strategy. The National Housing Strategy explicitly identifies people with disabilities as a specific population that is disadvantaged in the housing market. The federal contribution is part of the Canada Housing Benefit, which is specifically intended to help groups that are disadvantaged in the housing market to pay for their housing costs.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice when navigating Wonderland1. Alice’s expression could well apply to the research findings about the implementation of the Canada Housing Benefit in Canada’s maritime provinces, which also include Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as well as New Brunswick. For example, the Canada Housing Benefit is billed as a national program, but the researchers were unable to find evidence rent supplements being offered in Prince Edward Island.

The researchers carried out their investigation by interviewing workers who were assisting tenants when they applied for financial assistance to pay their rent2. The results of the investigation are published in Studies in Social Justice and posted at Brock University: Just Housing Unrealized: The Canada Housing Benefit in Atlantic Canada

Footnotes

  1. Read more about this expression in Word Histories: ‘Curiouser And Curiouser’: Meaning And Origin
  2. For a study of how tenants who received the Canada Housing Benefit are fairing financially, try: Putting Non-Market And Market Rental Housing To The Test In Canada