Indigenous safe housing in limbo Red tape, restrictive rules mean hundreds of millions of dollars remain unspent By: Marsha McLeod Posted: 4:00 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

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This article was published 13/02/2025 (206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Roughly two-thirds of a $724.1-million fund meant primarily to finance safe housing for Indigenous women and children escaping violence remains unspent, following years of bureaucratic delays and with a 2026 end date approaching, the Free Press has learned.

That leaves nearly half a billion dollars sitting in federal coffers rather than reaching Indigenous communities and organizations across Canada that want to build emergency shelters and transitional homes. The initiative is well behind its construction target of at least 88 new sites, with just two facilities completely finished as of September 2024.

The fund, called the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative, represents one of the largest investments of Justin Trudeau’s government in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which concluded nearly six years ago.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a Crown corporation, is leading the initiative and controls $420 million for construction costs, while Indigenous Services Canada controls the remaining $304.1 million for shelters’ day-to-day expenses, as well as violence prevention programming.

The Free Press obtained more than 500 pages of internal emails, memos and presentations through access-to-information requests, which reveal widespread awareness of the fund’s slow rollout within CMHC, Indigenous Services and the federal housing ministry.

The records identify a number of failings with the fund, including that an extensive application process may have made it impossible for smaller Indigenous communities to apply; that project funding limits were set before the pandemic and not adjusted to reflect a sharp escalation of costs; and difficulties “selecting and maintaining” the Indigenous-led committees meant to assess proposals and provide direction.

The records also indicate CMHC kept some applicants in the dark about why proposals were rejected. At times, employees discussed how much information to provide, including in 2023, when CMHC temporarily stopped selecting on-reserve projects — to give more time for Métis, Inuit, urban Indigenous and Two-Spirit and gender-diverse-led groups to apply.

Launched in 2021, the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative will enter its final year of operation in April, just as the Liberal Party faces a likely defeat by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in the upcoming federal election. Some Indigenous leaders worry a Poilievre government would claw back funding that is already insufficient for the needs of Indigenous communities.

Meanwhile, violence against Indigenous women continues at crisis levels across Canada — a reality that is all too apparent in Winnipeg.

Last year, Jeremy Skibicki was sentenced to life in prison for murdering four women — 39-year-old Morgan Harris and 26-year-old Marcedes Myran, both members of Long Plain First Nation; 24-year-old Rebecca Contois, who was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation; and an unidentified woman believed to be Indigenous, whom elders named Buffalo Woman or “Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe” in Anishinaabemowin — whom he targeted at homeless shelters.

As the MMIWG inquiry made clear, a lack of safe housing can be a barrier to women escaping violence. One frontline worker told the inquiry that many women are one argument with their partner away from being on the streets, where, some survivors testified, they were raped, beaten and intimidated. There is a wide gulf in housing availability and quality between First Nations and non-First Nations communities in Canada — a gap estimated at $44 billion — and despite the federal government’s promise to close it by 2030, a recent auditor general’s report suggests that is unlikely.

The MMIWG inquiry’s final report called on all levels of government to fund Indigenous-led, low-barrier shelters, safe spaces and transitional homes for Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people. It was from this call that the $724.1-million fund was created, with a mandate to build at least 38 new shelters and 50 transitional homes over five years.

Of the 231 Calls for Justice made by the inquiry, just two have been completed, with the majority showing minimal or no progress, according to a report from the Assembly of First Nations last spring. A real-time tracking tool, launched recently by the federal government, shows that the number remains unchanged in the year since.

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In late 2022, CMHC told one northern Manitoba First Nation that their proposed shelter was rejected in part owing to a lack of experience running an operation serving Indigenous people escaping violence, according to emails obtained by the Free Press. (Applicants’ identities were redacted).

A few weeks later, a representative of that First Nation wrote to CMHC, asking if they had exhausted the application process.

“Do you have a reply to this question?” a CMHC employee asked a colleague. “I think generally they would be open to reapply, but I am not sure if we are sharing that we aren’t really looking for on-reserve shelters at this time.”

The colleague responded that they would “confirm if we can share that we are not seeking on-reserve shelters at this time.”

The next day, that employee followed up: “I was informed to hold off on responding for now as key messages are coming regarding the next application window.”

The First Nation’s chief, who requested to remain unnamed, told the Free Press that they pushed back, offended by the notion they did not have the necessary experience to support their own people. Their CMHC contact then told them a nationwide target for on-reserve projects had been reached.

“We pushed it as far as we could and when they told us, like, ‘There’s no more on-reserve, the rest of the money is for somebody else,’ well, OK then, what’s the point? Let’s stop spinning our wheels, we’re not going anywhere,” the chief said.

 

 

The northern community is still without a shelter. Instead, women facing domestic violence are forced to go to urban shelters, each several hours away, or they are taken into the often already overcrowded homes of other community members on the reserve.

The community’s proposed eight-unit shelter was also meant to house at-risk teens and youth.

“The need hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s grown,” the chief said. “We have women and children who have to leave the community to this day and are isolated because they don’t have access to their family support systems. It makes it really difficult, because people will return to unsafe situations because they want to be in the community.”

During the lengthy application process, the First Nation spent more than $80,000 — including for geotechnical surveys, a preliminary construction estimate and initial architectural designs, the chief said. Half was covered by CMHC, while the rest — in addition to several months of a project manager’s time — was covered by the First Nation.

“If they’re not applying, how long are you going to wait? Until the money goes back to the Treasury?”–First Nation’s chief

The First Nation’s chief left the experience feeling frustrated that the community’s application was passed over in favour of not-yet-submitted applications from off-reserve groups, particularly given the hoops they had to jump through just to complete CMHC’s onerous process — using their very limited resources.

“We’re not even allowed to compete. Like, ‘You gotta sit this one out; only these guys get to join the race,’” the chief said. “There’s capacity in the urban areas to develop proposals, to expand shelters, to build new shelters. But if they’re not applying, how long are you going to wait? Until the money goes back to the Treasury?”

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In May 2023, at the request of the fund’s steering committees, CMHC hosted a meeting in Ottawa with a wider group of Indigenous organizations to discuss problems that had arisen.

Those problems included tensions over the approach to splitting funds between First Nations, Métis, Inuit, urban Indigenous and Two-Spirit and gender-diverse-led groups. With on-reserve applicants accounting for the “overwhelming majority” of proposals, the initial target for on-reserve projects was reached in 2023, according to an Indigenous Services briefing written for the meeting.

 

 

On-reserve proposals were being waitlisted until the end of that year to give “lower capacity groups” time to apply, another briefing says.

Speaking notes meant for an Indigenous Services official at the meeting instructed that if “pressed” on this waitlist, to say: “We respect the Steering Committee’s advice and are thankful for their direction in developing an equitable approach.”

 

 

By the time that meeting took place — two years into the funding cycle — CMHC had distributed just $3.5 million, or less than one per cent of its portion, according to figures provided by the Crown corporation.

A briefing note from this time says the fund’s March 2026 deadline was seen as “coming up too fast.” It was expected CMHC would need to extend the deadline, the document says, as well as provide additional funding to offset cost increases due to inflation, noting that the federal housing minister had recently asked for “concrete options” to speed up the distribution of funds.

In a recent email, CMHC spokesperson David Harris said the fund is on pace to be entirely spent by its 2026 deadline. He also emphasized that demand “significantly exceeded the available budget, with many strong applications received.” Asked how many complete applications were received, Harris said 142, but qualified the number by saying, “an accurate total of unsuccessful applications is not yet available” as some projects are still being assessed. The initiative stopped accepting applications in March 2024.

(The Free Press’s multiple requests for an interview with CMHC were declined.)

 

 

Harris said, as of September 2024, 69 projects had been selected across Canada, including nine in Manitoba. He declined to provide a full list, citing confidentiality reasons, but five projects in this province have been announced publicly. They include a transitional housing complex in Fisher River Cree Nation, as well as projects in Cross Lake First Nation, Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and one in Winnipeg. The five-unit transitional shelter in Fisher River – Ka pah pak Women’s Transitional Housing Shelter – opened last fall.

As of September 2024, which represents the most recent figures available, CMHC had distributed $75.44 million to successful applicants, Harris said. This represents 18 per cent of its portion. However, Harris said, the Crown corporation has committed $302.09 million to specific projects. Meanwhile, as of January, Indigenous Services had distributed $188.7 million — or 62 per cent — of its share.

According to an Indigenous Services briefing from early 2023, the process of finalizing pre-build agreements, as well as the need for some applicants to raise additional capital in the face of rising construction costs, contributed to construction delays. Construction costs increased by 29.5 per cent between 2021 and 2022, the document notes, yet CMHC’s project maximums remained locked in at $7.2 million in northern regions and $3.48 million in southern and urban areas.

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Even applying to the fund proved difficult, with one Indigenous Services backgrounder document from 2023 noting that “small, low-capacity communities … may be screened out or unable to apply due to the extensive application process.”

Among the requirements, applicants needed to submit a construction cost estimate, preliminary building designs and an offer to buy or lease land — all of which likely involved expenditures for architects, engineers or lawyers. This is on top of the hours needed for staff to compile letters of support and reams of other information, such as proposed staffing plans, programming and budgets.

“Small, low-capacity communities … may be screened out or unable to apply due to the extensive application process.”–Indigenous Services backgrounder document

Emails show applicants going back and forth repeatedly with their CMHC contacts, sending additional documents, answering detailed questions and attending meetings — before ultimately being rejected.

A 2024 report on housing in First Nations by Canada’s auditor general highlighted the heavy burden of this kind of process. It determined that CMHC and Indigenous Services’ current system — where First Nations must submit applications for specific pots of money and be “shovel ready” — needs to be simplified.

Harris, the CMHC spokesperson, said the Crown corporation has made several changes.

“This includes advancing more funding earlier, when possible, to help get projects going and acquire land, streamlining the application process by waiving certain requirements and reports, and offering flexibilities such as extending timelines for proponents to meet conditions of their agreements,” he said.

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For one Indigenous organization in Manitoba, nearly 15 months elapsed between the initial contact with CMHC and rejection in early 2023 of their transitional housing proposal. About six months after the denial, a representative for the organization wrote to Indigenous Services, asking if they could reapply.

“(Our) application was denied ‘because they didn’t think we had enough focus on children in our (redacted) to fit with their program. There’s nothing wrong with our project; there were just many applications that were a better fit for their program,’” the applicant wrote, relaying what they’d been told by their CMHC contact. According to CMHC’s promotional materials for the fund, shelters were not required to house children.

“(Our) application was denied because they didn’t think we had enough focus on children in our (redacted) to fit with their program.”–Applicant’s email

However, CMHC emails indicate there was another reason — one that the applicant was not informed of.

In January 2023, a CMHC employee composed a draft rejection email for the organization and sent it to Alison Bastien, a senior manager directing the team responsible for the fund, for review. The draft cited the same lack of focus on children, but, in explaining why the project was not selected, added something else: “The primary focus of the transitional housing will be on victims of human trafficking.” Another email cited this as the “main concern.”

Bastien wrote back: “Please hold off on the email. I just received some feedback from (senior vice-president) Paul Mason that our emails are too direct. I am speaking with Ben at 2:00 so I will let you know, but he may want us to remove the reason.” (Ben likely refers to Benjamin Williams, who was CMHC’s director of Indigenous and Northern Housing Solutions at the time.)

 

 

Asked why human trafficking victims — typically women and girls subjected to sexual exploitation — would fall outside the fund’s parameters, Harris said due to the specific security and law enforcement support needed, projects exclusively serving trafficking victims are not eligible.

The organization, which works with Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people who’ve experienced sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking, confirmed to the Free Press they were never told about this reason for their denial.

CMHC’s emails to unsuccessful applicants indicate these issues were not limited to Manitoba. In fact, vague and general denials appeared common across the country, with responses often providing a single bullet point of explanation.

One applicant was told they were denied because a women’s shelter existed within five kilometres of their proposed facility. Another was told their rejection came down to difficulties confirming “bulk costing details” and a “lack of self-contained units.”

“This is not an isolated experience.”–applicant representative

For another, the reasoning was just eight words long: “Project did not meet the program eligibility requirements.” A representative for that proposal wrote back: “Obviously this is bad news and we will need to understand the rationale. A six month turn around time for this response is also a poor outcome.”

“(T)here continue to be very serious challenges for Indigenous organizations in accessing CMHC funding pools for housing whether on or off reserve,” the representative added.

“This is not an isolated experience.”

marsha.mcleod@freepress.mb.ca

The Free Press is continuing to report on CMHC’s funding programs for Indigenous housing.
If you have a story you’d like to share, please reach out at mmcleod@freepress.mb.ca, marshamcleod@protonmail.com or via the app, Signal, under the username marshamcleodwfp.30.