As Canada's housing crisis heats up, the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) is calling on the federal government to reinvest in social housing.
According to the FRAPRU, the feds haven’t funded major social housing developments in decades. Community organizer Catherine Lussier says that’s part of what got us in this crisis in the first place — and a reinvestment could help get us out.
At issue is the National Housing Strategy, an $82-million investment from the federal government. The government claims "the strategy will first focus on the most vulnerable Canadians first," but Lussier disagrees.
A 2022 analysis from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) found that 75 per cent of the strategy's National Housing Co-Investment Fund, which supports social and co-operative housing, was in the form of loans, not grants, and went toward repairs, not construction. The CCPA, like the FRAPRU, say the strategy relies heavily on market-based mechanisms to increase supply.
Just last month, Justin Trudeau announced a full Goods and Services Tax (GST) Rental Rebate on new "purpose-built" rental housing. Lussier says it's not enough.
"The Canadian government, and they're not the only one, is reducing the housing crisis to a problem of what is being offered ... which is not at all the only issue," she says. "The question is not only to offer more housing on the market. It's, what type of housing are we offering, and who (is) going to truly be able to access this housing?"
Lussier also says that increasing supply indiscriminately risks contributing to ongoing gentrification and displacement.
"We're increasing the problem more than we're finding a solution. And that's why we are asking to invest everything in social housing."
The FRAPRU will be rallying in Ottawa this Thursday, Oct. 5. They'll be joined by groups of Quebecers organized through local housing committees.
"For us, it's public investment, and this public investment needs to be targeted towards where there is the most urgent need."
Listen to the interview below: