Homelessness and Social Housing Funding
- Federal Homelessness Programming
- Veteran Homelessness
- Funding and Programs for Shelters
- Accessible Housing
- Community Housing
- Housing Affordability and Climate
Federal Homelessness Programming
Issue / question
What is the Government of Canada doing to address homelessness?
Suggested response
- Homelessness is a complex issue, and the federal government is committed to working with partners and communities to eliminate chronic homelessness in Canada by 2030. That is why it is investing $4 billion over nine years through Reaching Home to support communities in their vital work to prevent and reduce homelessness.
- To support the important work of organizations across the country to prevent and reduce homelessness, Budget 2024 proposes an additional $1.3 billion to stabilize funding for Reaching Home, and to address unsheltered homelessness and encampments.
- Since 2019, Reaching Home has supported over 7,200 projects. Through these projects, over 71,500 people have been placed in more stable housing, and over 126,700 people have received homelessness prevention services such as rental assistance or landlord mediation.
- The new Veteran Homelessness Program will deliver $79.1 million to provide housing support and services to Veterans experiencing, or at risk of homelessness. Funding agreements are being negotiated so that Veterans can begin receiving services in spring 2024.
Background
- Budget 2024: On April 16, 2024, the Budget announced:
- an additional amount of $1 billion over four years, starting in 2024-25, to stabilize funding under Reaching Home;
- an investment of $250 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to address the urgent issue of encampments and unsheltered homelessness.
- Budget 2022: On April 7, 2022, the Budget announced:
- an investment of $562.2 million over two years through Reaching Home, beginning in 2024-25;
- $18.1 million over three years, beginning in 2022-23, to conduct action research to identify further measures required to eliminate chronic homelessness; and
- a commitment to eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada by 2030.
- Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy : As part of the National Housing Strategy, the Government of Canada launched Reaching Home in 2019. This community-based program funds specific communities through the Designated Communities, Indigenous Homelessness, Rural and Remote Homelessness and Territorial Homelessness streams.
- Since April 1, 2019, Reaching Home has supported over 7,200 projects:
- 71,567 people have been placed in more stable housing;
- 31,950 people began receiving income assistance;
- 126,752 people received prevention services such as rental assistance or landlord mediation; and
- 12,511 people started new paid employment.
- Reaching Home in Quebec: The Designated Communities stream and the Rural and Remote Homelessness stream are governed by a Canada-Quebec Agreement that respects the jurisdictions and priorities of both governments in the prevention and reduction of homelessness. Negotiations with the Government of Quebec are currently ongoing to extend the Canada-Quebec Agreement to 2026, and to flow Reaching Home base funding, and additional funding announced in Budget 2022, to communities. The Indigenous Homelessness stream is administered by Infrastructure Canada throughout the province and is not under a Canada-Quebec Agreement.
- Action Research on Chronic Homelessness: These initiatives will inform the development of a broader strategy and identify actions needed to eliminate chronic homelessness by exploring ways to break down persistent barriers encountered by communities and facilitating broad scale learning and knowledge sharing between communities and jurisdictions across Canada.
- To do this, action research sites will:
- Identify and document persistent barriers encountered by communities to reducing and ending chronic homelessness; and
- Test potential approaches to address persistent barriers and document successes and challenges.
- Veteran Homelessness Program: The Services and Supports Stream will provide $72.9 million in funding for rent supplements and wrap-around services (such as counselling and treatment for substance use) and the Capacity Building Stream will provide $6.2 million in funding to support research on Veteran homelessness and capacity building. Negotiations with successful applicants are underway to establish funding agreements. Organizations will begin delivering services to Veterans later this spring.
- One-time winter funding allocation: Winter weather presents additional risks to people experiencing homelessness in unsheltered areas/outdoors. With local shelter systems, and the homeless-serving sector as a whole, nearing capacity in most regions, there is an urgent need for communities to expand their local responses this winter. To support communities in responding to unsheltered homelessness, the Government of Canada is providing $100 million for emergency 2023-24 winter funding under Reaching Home. This funding has been allocated to communities under the Designated Communities, Indigenous Homelessness, and Territorial Homelessness streams.
Veteran Homelessness
Issue / question
What is the Government of Canada doing to address Veteran homelessness?
Suggested response
- On April 27, 2023, the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion launched the Veteran Homelessness Program with $79.1 million in funding.
- Negotiations with successful applicants are underway to establish funding agreements. Veterans will begin receiving services in spring 2024.
- The Program will provide $72.9 million for rent supplements and wrap-around services like counselling and treatment for substance abuse. It will also provide $6.2 million to support capacity-building and research on Veteran homelessness.
- The priority is to reach homeless Veterans where they are, inform them of the services and benefits available to them, assist them in getting the support they need, and help them find suitable housing.
- The Government of Canada is working closely with partners in every order of government and across the private sector to help every Canadian access the housing they need, including Canada’s Veterans, who have served and sacrificed in the name of our country.
Background
- The Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion’s 2021 mandate letter included a mandate to “Accelerate our Government’s commitment to end chronic homelessness among veterans through the Rapid Housing Initiative, a new rent supplement program, wrap around supports and a dedicated stream of funding for veterans within the National Housing Co-Investment Fund.”
- Infrastructure Canada (INFC) estimates that there are over 2,600 veterans experiencing homelessness across Canada.
Veteran Homelessness Program
- Budgets 2021 and 2022 announced a total of $106.8 million over five years for INFC to launch a new Veteran Homelessness Program that will provide wrap-around services and rent supplements to Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness in partnership with community organizations.
- A call for proposals launched on April 27, 2023, and closed on July 6, 2023. Negotiations are underway with successful applicants to establish funding agreements. Organizations will begin delivering services to Veterans later in spring 2024.
- The Program will provide $72.9 million through the Services and Supports Stream for rent supplements and “wrap-around” services such as counselling and treatment for substance use.
- Additionally, $6.2 million will be available through the Capacity Building Stream, to fund research and support capacity building.
Reaching Home
- Veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness have access to programming through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy funding to communities.
- Since April 2019, the Government of Canada is investing $4 billion over nine years to address homelessness through Reaching Home. This includes a top-up of $100 million in emergency winter funding announced in December 2023 for many of the communities supported by Reaching Home, as well as $18.1 million over three years, announced in Budget 2022, to conduct action research on the additional measures needed to support communities in eliminating chronic homelessness.
- Budget 2024 proposes to provide an additional amount of $1 billion over four years, starting in 2024-25, to stabilize funding under Reaching Home. It also proposes $250 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to address the urgent issue of encampments and unsheltered homelessness.
- Coordinated Point-in-Time Counts in 2016, 2018 and 2020-22 included a core question on Veteran status. With this data, local resources can be targeted more effectively. Moreover, the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System, software used by service providers across the country, includes indicators to identify veterans for referral to veteran-specific services.
Other initiatives that support veterans
- The Minister of Veterans Affairs is responsible for various initiatives that support veterans and organizations that serve them. Budget 2021 announced $140 million over five years starting in 2021-22, and $6 million ongoing, for a program to cover mental health care costs of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive, or anxiety disorders while their disability benefit application is processed.
- Other examples of relevant Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) programming include the Veterans Emergency Fund; the War Veterans Allowance; the Assistance Fund; Treatment benefits; educational and employment assistance and mental health supports; programs that care for veterans with disabilities; and the VAC Assistance Service.
Funding and Programs for Shelters
Issue / question
How will the National Housing Strategy support people who are victims of gender-based violence?
Suggested response
- With the work done under the National Housing Strategy and other initiatives, the Government of Canada has supported the creation or repair of over 13,100 shelter spaces since 2016.
- We are investing over $724 million to expand culturally relevant supports for Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people who are escaping gender-based violence through the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative. Since the launch of this initiative, 47 projects have been selected: 24 shelters and 23 transitional housing projects.
- Providing a safe and secure space for people fleeing domestic violence is a priority for the Government of Canada.
Background
- The National Housing Strategy (NHS) prioritizes meeting the needs of vulnerable populations, including women and children fleeing domestic violence, and many of the initiatives under the NHS will help women and single mothers. For example, the $15 billion Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) provides capital contributions and low-cost loans for both new construction and repair and renewal of existing shelters across the country. Through the AHF, the Government of Canada plans to help build and maintain at least 4,000 shelter spaces for survivors of family violence by 2028. As part of this commitment, Budget 2021 carved out $250 million from the AHF, specifically for the construction and operation of shelters and transitional housing for women and girls fleeing violence.
- The NHS promotes a whole of government collaboration and alignment of efforts across federal priorities, including the Gender-Based Analysis Plus initiative, Women and Gender Equality’s Gender-based Violence Strategy and Employment and Social Development Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Seed funding program was also available to provide interest-free loans and/or non-repayable contributions for early development costs associated with the construction of shelters.
- As part of the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada announced an investment of $724.1 million available for a comprehensive Violence Prevention Strategy to expand culturally relevant supports for:
- Indigenous women and their children
- 2SLGBTQQIA+ people facing gender-based violence
- The NHS supports new shelters and transitional (second stage) housing across Canada for: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will allocate $420 million from 2020-2025 to support the construction of new shelters and transitional housing.
- Indigenous Services Canada will invest $304.1 million from 2020-2025, and $96.6 million annually to:
- support the operational costs of new shelters and transition homes
- expand funding for culturally relevant violence prevention activities. For information on funding for these activities, please visit the website for Family Violence Prevention Program (sac-isc.gc.ca)
- Budget 2024 provides an additional $1 billion to the AHF, on top of funding announced in the Fall Economic Statement, to launch a new Rapid Housing stream to build deeply affordable housing, supportive housing, and shelters for our most vulnerable.
Accessible Housing
Issue / question
What is the Government of Canada doing to help Canadians have access to accessible housing that accommodates their physical or other disabilities?
Suggested response
- Since 2018, the Government of Canada has contributed to creating, maintaining or repairing more than 36,000 units of accessible housing in Canada. As of December 31, 2023, over 1,500 accessible units have been repaired and over 4,500 accessible units have been built.
- The new Housing Design Catalogue initiative will help address the most urgent housing needs of Canadians and support the Government of Canada’s objective of making housing more accessible, sustainable, and affordable. The first phase of the catalogue will be published in fall 2024.
- Federal housing programs prioritize projects that include accessibility features and are located close to transit, services, supports, and employment opportunities.
- Projects funded under several National Housing Strategy programs, such as the Affordable Housing Fund, require either universal or barrier-free designs or include common areas that meet or exceed local accessibility requirements.
- The National Research Council and Accessibility Standards Canada are also developing world-class accessibility standards and updating the National Building Code to improve accessibility in the built environment.
Background
Affordable Housing Innovation Fund
- Minimum 10% of units must be accessible.
- Priority given to projects within 500 to 1,000 meters of transit or services.
Apartment Construction Loan Program
- Minimum 10% of units and all common areas must meet or exceed local accessibility requirements.
- Higher priority given to projects with access to public transit.
Affordable Housing Fund (AHF)
- Minimum 20% of units must meet or exceed accessibility standards, and all projects must also have a barrier-free or universal design.
- Higher priority given to projects near transit.
- The AHF has a target of providing funding for the creation of at least 2,400 new units for people with developmental disabilities. As of December 31, 2023, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation had commitments to create 849 new affordable units.
Rapid Housing Initiative
- Modular and new construction projects funded through the Cities Stream had to provide at least 5% more accessible units than set out by their local accessibility requirements. For projects funded through the Projects Stream, higher priority was given to projects exceeding their local accessibility requirements.
Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund
- As part of the conditions for agreements with provinces and territories to receive funds from the $5 billion pool set aside for long-term infrastructure priorities, they will need to adopt forthcoming changes to the National Building Code to support more accessible, affordable, and climate-friendly housing options.
The National Housing Strategy (NHS)
- Persons with disabilities are one of the vulnerable groups identified in the NHS.
Community Housing
Issue / question
What is the Government of Canada doing to help preserve units for low-income households living in community housing?
Suggested response
- The 2023 Fall Economic Statement announced $309.3 million in new funding for the Co-operative Housing Development Program that will launch in spring 2024, to grow the community housing stock.
- Budget 2024 announced the $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund, which will help community housing providers acquire affordable units and preserve rents.
- We are also investing over $618 million over 10 years through the Federal Community Housing Initiative with more than 52,000 community units being supported to help preserve community housing and keep rents affordable for low-income tenants.
- The Government of Canada is taking concrete actions to grow Canada’s community housing stock and ensure it remains affordable and viable well into the future.
Background
- The 2023 Fall Economic Statement announced an investment of $309.3 million in new funding for the Co-operative Housing Development Program, which was announced in Budget 2022. This new program will be co-designed with the Co‑operative Housing Federation of Canada and the co-operative housing sector. Co‑operatives offers quality, affordable housing to Canadians and empowers their members through inclusive environments, personal development, and security of tenure through their community-oriented housing model.
- Canada’s Housing Plan and Budget 2024 announced the Canada Rental Protection Fund. The $1.5 billion fund will be co-led by the federal government and other partners and will provide immediate and direct support to affordable housing providers to acquire units and preserve rents at a stable level for decades to come.
- Budget 2024 and the 2023 Fall Economic Statement announced top-ups totaling $2 billion to the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF). The AHF provides low-interest or forgivable loans and contributions for new and repaired affordable and community housing. The fund now totals over $15 billion to support non-profit, co-operative, and public housing providers and respond to the needs of those most impacted by the housing crisis.
- The Federal Community Housing Initiative (FCHI) has two components: rental assistance and temporary transitional assistance. Rental assistance is offered to housing providers to ensure low-income households continue to receive rental support to help reduce or eliminate their housing needs.
- FCHI is eligible to former federally administered community housing providers with long-term operating agreements that ended. It provides rental assistance funding from September 1,2020, until March 31, 2028.
- Housing providers with expiring agreements that apply for new funding under the FCHI need to meet minimum requirements under a new agreement related to the depth and duration of affordability, social inclusion, asset management, and governance, and ensure that projects are charging adequate rents relative to tenant incomes.
Housing, Affordability and Climate
Issue / question
Infrastructure Canada’s approach to housing, affordability and climate.
Suggested response
- Investments through the Canada Community-Building Fund ($2.4 billion per year indexed at 2%) and predictable public transit funding (averaging $3 billion per year starting in 2026-27) will support the development of transit-oriented communities, helping to combat congestion and emissions.
- We are also addressing the affordability of existing homes by investing in energy efficient and low-carbon retrofits.
- The Canada Greener Homes Loan has provided over 58,000 interest-free loans to date.
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Canada Greener Affordable Housing program offers low interest and forgivable loans to help affordable housing providers complete deep energy retrofits on multi-residential buildings.
- Housing, affordability and climate are intersecting challenges. Infrastructure Canada is committed to increasing housing supply and improving affordability while reducing emissions and supporting climate resilient communities.
Background
- Increasing the energy efficiency and climate resilience of housing will reduce costs over the life of a building and improve long-term affordability. The cost of electrifying a new single-family home is 1% higher than a natural gas home, and overall will lower energy costs (except in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario where natural gas is currently cheaper). There are also approaches to building multi-unit residential buildings with electric heating that are more cost effective than using natural gas.
- The Government recently announced its Housing Plan, which includes a proposal to invest $903.5 million in a new Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program to support energy efficient retrofits for low to median income homeowners and renters, to renew and improve existing energy efficiency programs that offer tools to building owners and continue developing national approaches to home energy labelling.
- Investing in transit-oriented communities is an important part of Infrastructure Canada’s approach to addressing housing and climate co-benefits. Transportation was the second largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada (22% in 2021). Investments made through the Canada Community-Building Fund and predictable public transit funding will be leveraged to advance housing outcomes.
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Canada Greener Homes Loan program, launched in June 2022, offers interest-free loans of up to $40,000 for 10 years to help Canadians make their homes energy efficient. To date, $1.35 billion in loan commitments (representing roughly 58,000 loans) have been provided, with a total of 70,000 loans expected to be delivered by summer 2024. Approximately, 45% of the committed loans include the installation of a heat pump.
- CMHC’s Canada Greener Affordable Housing provides $1.1 billion in low-interest repayable and forgivable loans to help affordable housing providers complete deep energy retrofits on existing multi-unit buildings through both pre-retrofit funding for planning activities as well as capital costs of retrofits. The program targets deep retrofits, i.e., 70% reduction in energy and 80‑100% reduction in GHG emissions. The first application window (in June 2023) for pre-retrofit funding was oversubscribed (applications requesting total of $34 million). CMHC has committed to over 63 pre-retrofit projects as part of this offering.
- In fall 2024, the government intends to release the first phase of the housing design catalogue which will include up to 50 low-rise housing designs — including accessory dwelling units, single-family homes, and multiplexes — for use across Canada. The next phase of the catalogue will include mid-rise and modular designs. The design catalogue initiative will serve as a tool to accelerate housing approvals. It is also an opportunity to help build familiarity and comfort among builders, local governments, and residents with low-carbon innovations in housing design and development.
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