PRESS RELEASE
Fall Economic Statement 2022: A missed opportunity to build an economy that truly works for everyone
(November 4, 2022) – Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, described as a plan to build an economy that works for everyone.
CHRA knows that Canada finds itself in a period of extreme economic uncertainty, and that navigating the situation is no easy task. Inflation is high and people from coast to coast to coast are feeling the effects of rapidly rising interest rates.
In yesterday’s Fall Economic Statement, Deputy Prime Minister Freeland announced the rollout of policies described as being enacted to make housing more affordable. CHRA appreciates that low-income applicants can apply for a top-up of the Canada Housing Benefit but expresses sincere disappointment that the government has prioritized stimulating demand for homeownership at a time of skyrocketing interest rates, instead of supporting housing for those in greatest need.
While we understand that navigating the current inflationary environment is no easy task, The Fall Economic Statement was a missed opportunity to build an economy that truly works for everyone.
The Deputy Prime Minister has said that the measures introduced today are meant to support those in greatest need to weather the inflationary environment. Supporting those in greatest need starts at home. Access to safe, affordable, adequate housing is central to building an economy that works for everyone.
A key part of this is supporting a fully funded, Indigenous-governed, urban, rural, and northern (URN) Indigenous Housing Centre to develop and deliver a culturally appropriate Indigenous housing strategy that recognizes housing as a human right and the urgent need for wraparound services.
$25 billion is needed over the next ten years to address the current shortfall in URN Indigenous housing to specifically protect those in greatest need by addressing affordability issues. The Trudeau Liberals committed to supporting an URN Indigenous housing strategy in the runup to both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
The federal government further acknowledged the need to support and fund an URN Indigenous housing strategy in Budget 2022 with a $300 million funding commitment, representing a mere 1.09 percent of the amount required. To this date, none of that money has been disbursed.
The Fall Economic Statement was an opportunity for the government to demonstrate their support for Reconciliation by announcing more funding for URN and rolling out the $300 million, but they failed to do so.
Rapidly rising interest rates are also jeopardizing the ability of affordable housing providers to create and renew housing across Canada. Increased costs of borrowing have made many capital budgets created as recently as a few months ago for National Housing Strategy-funded projects no longer viable. The federal government needs to act now to increase non-repayable contributions that accompany loans, at a minimum to balance out the higher cost of borrowing that puts new affordable housing projects at risk.
The Fall Economic Statement was an opportunity for the government to inject additional dollars into the National Housing Strategy to protect its goal of ensuring everyone has a place to call home by 2030. Failure to do so will only perpetuate or worsen affordable housing shortfalls across Canada.
CHRA calls on the Government of Canada to immediately roll out additional funding to support an Indigenous-governed, urban, rural, and northern (URN) Indigenous Housing Centre to develop and deliver a culturally appropriate Indigenous housing strategy and to ensure National Housing Strategy programs have sufficient funding to guarantee that everyone who lives in Canada has a place to call home by 2030.
“Indigenous housing providers are tired of waiting,” said Margaret Pfoh, CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association and President-Elect of CHRA, “we urgently need an Indigenous housing strategy and we need to see meaningful financial commitments from the federal government.”
“Minister Freeland committed to providing targeted support to the most vulnerable, but in the middle of a housing crisis, there are no new measures to create community housing and provide long-term stability for the most vulnerable renters,” said Ray Sullivan, Interim Executive Director of CHRA
For more information, contact:
Ray Sullivan, Interim Executive Director
rsullivan@chra-achru.ca
C: 613-294-9840