Story by The Canadian Press •
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters in Cornwall, P.E.I., Monday, August 21, 2023.© Provided by National Post
Despite what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said recently, a new poll suggests 40 per cent of Canadians think his government is to blame for the country’s housing crisis.
Leger surveyed 1,537 people between Aug. 18 and 20, asking a series of questions about the rising cost of housing and what should be done about it.
When asked which level of government deserves the most blame for the crisis, 40 per cent of respondents pointed the finger at the federal government and 32 per cent at their provincial government.
Just six per cent of those polled felt their municipal government was to blame and another 22 per cent said they were not sure.
Renters were more likely to blame the province, while those who own their homes were inclined to blame the feds.
Trudeau was criticized by opposition parties and experts after he told reporters earlier this month that “housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility,” suggesting that the provinces and municipalities should step up.
Even so, this week the Liberal cabinet has been meeting with two experts who published a report on housing that sets out 10 recommendations for how the federal government could tackle the problem.
One of those is a national housing accord that would see all three levels of government agree to work with builders and non-profit agencies to co-ordinate their efforts. The government hasn’t detailed its plans yet but ministers at the meetings in Prince Edward Island have been clear that housing is a top priority.
The Leger poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
Overall, 95 per cent of respondents said the rising cost of rents and lack of affordable homes are serious problems.
And more than half of the people polled — 55 per cent — reported that they worried at least once or twice about being able to pay their own mortgage or rent in the last couple of months. That includes 16 per cent who say they worried “frequently’ about being able to make the payments.
Respondents from rural areas were most likely to say they never worried about paying their rent or mortgage, as were those over the age of 55.
People between the ages of 18 and 24 were most likely to fret, and the proportion of people worried was highest in cities. Regionally, Albertans and British Columbians were most likely to be concerned about making their payments, while Quebecers were least likely.
The poll also listed possible solutions governments could implement, and asked whether respondents agreed with them.
The top choices, with 79 per cent support each, were building more government-supplied housing and offering incentives to developers to build affordable homes. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents agreed with tightening rent controls, and 68 per cent said there should be income-based rent subsidies.
The lowest support, 56 per cent, was for discouraging short-term rentals and offering homeowners incentives to provide rental suites, at 64 per cent.
Renters were more likely than homeowners to support each of those choices.
Overall, homeowners were less likely than renters to support any of the proposed solutions.
The poll also asked whether the 1,019 respondents who owned their homes had any available space to rent. Only five per cent said they do rent space out, with just one per cent saying they have a short-term rental space.
Fifteen per cent said they have a space that could be rented that is vacant, and another 15 per cent said they have space that could be turned into something rentable.
Canada must explore links between immigration, housing crunch: Mark Miller
Story by The Canadian Press •
CHARLOTTETOWN — The federal government is examining its approach to immigration as part of a wider look at what is driving Canada's housing crunch and what it can do about it.
The Liberal government set new immigration targets last fall that would see Canada welcome 500,00 newcomers in 2025. That compares with 341,000 immigrants arriving in 2019, and a record high of 431,645 in 2022.
Immigration Minister Mark Miller said Tuesday that at present he has no intention of adjusting that target, but that population growth fuelled by new arrivals cannot be ignored as the federal Liberal cabinet considers what is behind a worsening affordability crisis for buying or renting a home.
"I don't see a world in which (changing the target) happens but again, I'm going to be looking at the facts and I'm not a dogmatic person," he said in Charlottetown, where federal ministers are holding a three-day retreat.
"We have to look at what that impact is, and what the impact of immigrants actually is on the housing supply."
Multiple ministers, including Miller, stressed that immigrants are not to blame for Canada's housing challenges, but he said the volume of immigration, including international students, does impact the availability of housing.
"You'll find a wide divergence of views of what that impact is, of immigration on housing," he said.
"Volume is volume, and it does have an impact. There's no denying that. But the specific role that immigration plays in certain areas is something we have to kind of break down a little more."
The housing crisis is a chief topic of conversation at the retreat, which comes as the federal Liberals prepare their agenda for the fall sitting of Parliament.
The Liberals introduced a national housing strategy in 2017, promising to spend billions over a decade to restore Ottawa's involvement in building social housing. In 2019, legislation was passed designating housing as a human right.
But little progress has been made to improve the situation, and the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis, rising interest rates and rapid population growth are exacerbating the problem.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. estimates Canada needs about 5.8 million new homes by 2030 to restore housing affordability.
In Charlottetown, ministers received a briefing on Tuesday afternoon from two national housing and homelessness experts who last week published a report identifying 10 ways the federal government could improve the situation.
That included a national housing accord between the federal government, provinces, municipalities, housing builders and not-for-profit agencies. The report pointed to a lack of co-ordination between those responsible for housing as one thing getting in the way.
On Monday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said it was too early to commit to all 10 recommendations in the report, but that the government would be examining them and deciding what the next steps will be.
"So there's a number of different elements to what we want to do next," he said.
"How we precisely frame it, and whether that is a revisitation of the national housing strategy, is something that I'm sure we're going to get into really interesting discussions on over the course of the next couple of days here in Charlottetown," he said.
Report co-author Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, said he left Tuesday's session with cabinet feeling like the housing crisis "is an issue the government is seized with."
"I got a sense of impatience and a sense of urgency," he said.
Richter and his co-authors say at least two million of the new homes that CMHC estimates are needed by 2023 should be designated as affordable housing.
Census data suggests that in 2021, about 10 per cent of the population, or 1.5 million people, were considered to be in need of affordable housing, but social housing accounts for only about 3.5 per cent of the country's housing stock.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday changing the new immigration target isn't a conversation he's had with any fellow ministers, but he said the government must tailor its policies on immigration and housing to acknowledge the link between the two.
Immigration, said LeBlanc, is "essential for the economic prosperity and growth of the country" and that every premier is talking about needing more immigrants to fill jobs. That includes those needed to build houses, as the construction industry is facing a critical labour shortage.
"But we're not insensitive to the housing challenges that existed before provinces asked us to bring in more immigrants to help with the labour force," he said.
"So you have to be coherent a little bit here, but we totally accept that the conversation needs to proceed at the same time so that we don't inadvertently end up in a position that makes the housing affordability issue worse."
The government is considering possibly capping the annual number of international students issued new permits to study in Canada. Universities and colleges have been recruiting thousands of additional international students each year, who pay more in tuition fees and help schools pay their bills.
But Fraser said the schools haven't all kept pace with the housing needs associated with that extra demand and both he and Miller said putting a cap on international students may be necessary.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 22, 2023.
Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press
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