Social-housing crisis must be a priority

Charleswood

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/11/2023 (723 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thursday, Oct. 5 was National Social Housing Day and rallies were held across Canada calling on governments to take action to solve the housing and homelessness crisis by funding social housing.

Here in Winnipeg, the Right to Housing Coalition (R2H) held a “Stand up for social housing” rally at the constituency office of Dan Vandal, the Liberal MP for Saint Boniface – Saint Vital, where speakers outlined the need for social and affordable housing. Following the rally, participants delivered a letter to Vandal asking for an additional 30,000 new social units annually for 10 years, with rents that are no more than 30 per cent of household income (as well as protecting existing stock); the letter also called for investment in the acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance of new and existing public, non-profit and co-operative housing that meets the needs of people experiencing core housing (affordable for their household) difficulty and homelessness.

Vandal responded, and stated that this fall the federal government has unlocked new financing to build 30,000 more apartments per year as it expands access to low-cost financing for rental construction. His letter also stated that the federal government has removed the GST on the construction of rental apartment building and urged provinces to follow suit by removing the PST, which he indicated the Manitoba’s NDP government has pledged to do. He added that these measures will increase the stock of affordable housing.

While the R2H rally focused on securing funding from the federal government in its “stand up for social housing” rally, the provincial government was also asked to make affordable housing a priority. Prior to the provincial election, the R2H coalition called on political parties to commit to addressing Manitoba’s housing and homelessness crisis. A questionnaire was circulated, asking them to commit to implementing a social-housing action plan. The action plan has five pillars and parties were asked to indicate their level of commitment to each pillar.

The NDP responded to the social housing action plan, with the following:

Pillar 1 – Millions would be invested to create more rent-geared-to-income units across Manitoba (in partnerships with other levels of government), but it did not commit to the target of 10,000 units in the next 10 years;

Pillar 2 – Along with protecting existing social housing stock, the NDP promised legislation to protect non-profit housing from being sold. It also committed to investment in the maintenance of housing.

Pillar 3 – It committed to hiring 100 more mental-health workers to improve access to mental health and social services, and invest in staff and supports within social housing;

Pillar 4 – It committed to introduce legislation that would prevent landlords from applying large rent increases and increases that haven’t been approved by the residential tenancies branch.

Pillar 5 – It plans to expand and support partnerships with social enterprises to provide training and employment in the construction and maintenance of social housing.

It goes without saying that the NDP government can’t provide immediate solutions to housing problems that have been allowed to accumulate for years. However, the R2H coalition will be watching to ensure there is movement toward honouring the housing promises that were made to Manitobans prior to their election into office.