Minister Gregor Robertson Federal Housing Advocate Report Response

October 2025 – The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities tabled the Federal Housing Advocate's 2024 – 25 Annual report on September 26, 2025, along with his response to the report.

Marie-Josée Houle
Federal Housing Advocate
Canadian Human Rights Commission
344 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1E1

Dear Marie-Josée Houle:

Pursuant to subsection 17(1) of the National Housing Strategy Act, I am pleased to respond on behalf of the Government of Canada to your report entitled Informing Meaningful Action: The Federal Housing Advocate’s 2024–2025 Annual Report to the Minister. The report provides an overview of your work completed in 2024–2025, outlines recommendations for Government of Canada consideration, and highlights achievements from your first mandate as the Federal Housing Advocate.

In particular, the report makes recommendations for consideration along five areas of action: 1) reinforce accountability mechanisms under the National Housing Strategy Act; 2) implement an all-of-government action approach to housing as a human right; 3) invest in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis housing and infrastructure; 4) strengthen the National Housing Strategy and Canada’s Housing Plan; and 5) lay the groundwork to begin shaping the next National Housing Strategy.

Thank you for your important work, as outlined in the report. I will take the opportunity to highlight recent progress in the Government of Canada’s approach to better meeting housing needs and addressing homelessness.

1. Reinforce accountability mechanisms under the National Housing Strategy Act

The Government of Canada acknowledges the role of the Federal Housing Advocate and the National Housing Council, including the work of review panels, in supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. These accountability mechanisms help to surface complex housing issues and the experiences of those living with housing needs.

2. Implement an all-of-government action approach to housing as a human right

The Government of Canada is advancing an all-of-government approach to tackle the housing crisis. To do so, it is taking a leadership role by providing funding and coordinating with other orders of government to increase housing supply and improve affordability and access to vital services.

For example, in Budget 2024, the Government of Canada announced $250 million in funding over two years for the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative. The initiative is cost-matched by provinces, territories, and municipalities and requires Community Encampment Response Plans to be developed in collaboration with the local homeless-serving sector, Indigenous partners, people with lived experience, and provinces and territories. These plans integrate human rights principles, a Housing First approach, and inclusive planning and implementation. To date, 38 Community Encampment Response Plans have been developed under the initiative, and funding is being distributed to communities to support responses to encampments.

The Government of Canada is also taking into consideration the changing realities of, and inequalities across, diverse groups of people by applying a Gender-based Analysis Plus lens to support the development of responsive and inclusive housing and homelessness policies, programs, and other initiatives. This approach recognizes that a strong understanding of needs is important for evidence-based policy making, monitoring progress and improving housing outcomes, including for those who are most vulnerable.

Further, the Government of Canada is committed to a data-driven response to the housing crisis. That is why Budget 2024 committed $20 million over four years to modernize and enhance the collection and dissemination of housing data. This will enable more robust analysis of trends in housing demand, as well as socioeconomic and well-being outcomes. The federal government also continues to demonstrate leadership in homelessness data through the advancement of the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) and Coordinated Access, which integrate services across the homeless-serving system and support improved service delivery at the community level. When combined with other data sources, such as nationally coordinated point-in-time counts, homelessness data collected through HIFIS and Coordinated Access help to better understand regional and national homelessness trends. The Government of Canada regularly publishes analyses of these trends, with recent reports covering the intersection of homelessness and racialized populations, mental health and substance use, chronic homelessness, and immigration.

3. Invest in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis housing and infrastructure

The Government of Canada is committed to upholding the inherent rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, as recognized and affirmed in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act builds on this foundation, setting out that the Government of Canada will work in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples to take all measures necessary to ensure the laws of Canada are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Through permanent bilateral mechanisms established with First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders to identify joint priorities, co-develop policy and monitor progress, the Government of Canada is working together with Indigenous partners. Through these mechanisms and other tables, the federal government is investing in Indigenous housing and infrastructure solutions that support housing needs in Indigenous communities across Canada.

The Government of Canada supports distinctions-based housing investments through a range of programs. In addition, the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative provides $724.1 million to support the construction and operation of shelters and transitional homes for Indigenous women, children, and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals fleeing gender-based violence, including in urban areas and in the North. As of June 2025, funding through this program has been conditionally or financially committed toward the construction of 38 new shelters, 39 new transitional homes and their operational costs. Further, through the Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy, work is underway to complement the distinctions-based housing investments that are making a difference in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities.

In addition, the Government of Canada provides supports for Indigenous communities through its housing and infrastructure programs of general application, including programs under Canada’s Housing Plan. These programs aim to solve the housing crisis by building more homes, making it easier to own or rent a home, and by helping Canadians who cannot afford a home. Of note, under Canada’s Housing Plan, at least 10 percent of the $1-billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund direct delivery stream envelope will go to Indigenous-led projects to address pressing infrastructure needs in order to enable new housing or to support existing housing in Indigenous communities.

4. Strengthen the National Housing Strategy and Canada’s Housing Plan

The Government of Canada is committed to solving Canada’s housing crisis and ensuring that people have access to housing they can afford. On September 14, 2025, the Government of Canada launched Build Canada Homes with an initial capital investment of $13 billion, which builds on and complements the suite of housing investments featured in Canada’s Housing Plan and under the National Housing Strategy. Through this new federal agency, the Government of Canada will work with industry, all orders of government, and Indigenous partners to finance and build affordable housing at scale and at speed, focusing primarily on non-market housing and support for a mix of income needs.

In alignment with the National Housing Strategy Act, Build Canada Homes will support improved housing outcomes for Canadians, including for those most in need, and help further the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) will continue delivering its existing affordable housing programs until current funding envelopes are fully exhausted.

Initial investments already announced through Build Canada Homes include prioritizing six sites to build 4,000 factory-built homes on federal land focused on affordable mix-income communities, $1 billion to build transitional and supportive housing for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and partnering with the Nunavut Housing Corporation to build over 700 public, affordable, and supportive housing units.

Both the National Housing Strategy and Canada’s Housing Plan have demonstrated success in a number of key areas. Notably, in 2024, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) relief on purpose-built rentals, in addition CMHC insurance and low cost-lending, contributed to the highest national rental starts in decades; the Housing Accelerator Fund is incentivising improvements in local housing rules and processes that are expected to unlock over 112,000 homes by 2028; and CMHC-delivered programs under the National Housing Strategy have led to over 170,000 new housing units created or committed and more than 363,000 community housing units protected as of June 2025.

Further, through Canada’s Housing Plan and Budget 2024, the Government of Canada made significant investments to help Canadians who cannot afford a home. This includes providing an additional $1 billion for the Affordable Housing Fund to further support non-profit, co-operative, and public housing providers, and launching new Rapid Housing and Community Housing Sub-streams within the fund to build affordable and deeply affordable housing, supportive housing, and shelters.

In addition, on September 19, 2025, the Government of Canada announced a top-up of $1.5 billion in loans to the Affordable Housing Fund to continue progress on affordable housing and support the transition of existing affordable housing programs to the Build Canada Homes investment model. This transitional measure will help ensure that thousands of affordable housing units are built, bringing total federal investment through this program to almost $16 billion.

Budget 2024 also included the new $1.5-billion Co-operative Housing Development Program, the largest investment assisting the co-op housing sector in the last 30 years, to support the development of thousands of affordable rental co-operative housing units by 2028. Furthermore, the $1.5-billion Canada Rental Protection Fund was announced to help protect the existing stock of affordable apartment buildings currently at risk of being lost to rent hikes, redevelopment, and conversion, and help expand the stock of housing owned by community housing providers. The Canada Rental Protection Fund will be delivered under Build Canada Homes.

In addition to increasing the supply of affordable housing, the federal government has committed over $5 billion through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy to support community-based approaches to prevent and reduce homelessness. Through Reaching Home, 109,954 people have been placed into more stable housing and 196,996 people have benefitted from core prevention services, as of August 2025. This includes 2,657 projects, totalling $803 million in project funding, that identified youth as one of their target demographics, offering family counselling, mediation, as well as transitional supports for youth aging out of care.

The Government of Canada is also monitoring the implementation of Community Encampment Response Plans under the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative, and summaries of the Plans are available online. To date, the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative has supported 350 projects across Canada with total project funding of $155.7 million.

Through Canada’s Housing Plan, the federal government has also taken actions to protect and support renters by working with provincial and territorial partners. This includes launching the Blueprint for a Renters’ Bill of Rights to advance the right to housing through improved housing access and affordability. Further, Budget 2024 announced $15 million in funding over five years for the Tenant Protection Fund to provide access to legal information and advice services to help renters navigate and overcome tenant legal matters. Launched in April 2025, the fund also supports projects to help tenants’ rights advocacy organizations raise awareness of renters’ rights across Canada and undertake work to address systemic tenant legal issues.

Recent initiatives, including those described above, complement results being achieved under the National Housing Strategy, including through the Canada Housing Benefit and the Federal Community Housing Initiative. Notably, with a joint investment of $4.7 billion from the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial governments, the Canada Housing Benefit has contributed to housing stability for more than 243,900 households in need through direct financial support for housing costs. The rental assistance provided by Phase 2 of the Federal Community Housing Initiative has also helped more than 11,300 low-income households and has enabled more than 45,000 community housing units to continue to be available and affordable to those facing housing needs.

As the federal government continues to advance the implementation of initiatives under Canada’s Housing Plan, the National Housing Strategy, and Build Canada Homes, it recognizes that people with accessibility needs face specific challenges. As such, the Government of Canada is currently working closely with provinces and territories through the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes to update the National Building Code, including to improve accessibility in housing. To support accessible and adaptable housing, it is also working to incorporate more designs into the new Housing Design Catalogue, an initiative that will help simplify and speed up the delivery of housing across the country.

5. Lay the groundwork to begin shaping the next National Housing Strategy

The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of building on the success of the various elements of the National Housing Strategy and leveraging the expertise of partners and stakeholders to chart a course on future federal housing and homelessness initiatives. As primary partners in housing, the federal government engages and collaborates with provinces and territories on the design and delivery of housing and homelessness initiatives.

On September 8, 2025, Federal-Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Housing met to discuss solutions to key housing and homelessness issues facing people in Canada. At this meeting, Ministers acknowledged the positive impact of the nearly $16 billion in joint federal, provincial, and territorial investments under the National Housing Strategy, which have supported over 600,000 households across the country. Ministers also committed to working together on key priorities aimed at improving housing outcomes, including renewing the federal, provincial and territorial housing partnerships on affordable housing, as well as addressing homelessness through strengthened responses and coordinated investments.

As it lays the groundwork for the next generation of partnerships on housing and homelessness investments beyond 2028, the Government of Canada will continue to work closely with provinces and territories to reduce costs and barriers to homebuilding (e.g., restrictive zoning practices, lengthy approvals, development charges) while scaling up innovation, including modern methods of construction to enhance speed and efficiencies. It will also pursue efforts to improve data and data sharing, set tangible targets to reduce homelessness, and help those experiencing homelessness to secure stable living arrangements.

Looking ahead, a Team Canada approach that leverages all federal levers and focuses on partnerships across sectors and jurisdictions will continue to be essential to meeting the evolving housing needs of Canadians.

In closing, the Government of Canada is taking steps to better meet housing needs and address homelessness. Thank you once again for your report.

Sincerely,

The Honourable Gregor Robertson, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada