More accessible affordable housing

The National Housing Strategy (NHS) has been a welcome step forward to tackling Canada’s housing crisis. However, while this strategy and funding are welcome, more must be done to address the severe gaps in housing affordability that affects members of the Jewish community, particularly Holocaust Survivors or those needing ethnoculturally specific support, and for other vulnerable Canadian groups. 

The National Housing Strategy (NHS) includes important commitments to fund up to 2,400 new housing units for people with developmental disabilities. Programs within the NHS include funding for individuals with disabilities. While this funding is welcome, more must be done to address the severe gap in Canada’s efforts to alleviate poverty among the most vulnerable and to reduce affordable housing wait lists. 

Recommendations

• Reduce wait times for affordable housing, especially for people requiring care or ethnocultural-specific support. 
• Allocate specific funding for targeted housing and housing related services for vulnerable populations including LGBTQI2S, Indigenous and racialized communities, and ensure that these services are accessible and inclusive of the diverse needs within the community.    
• Continuing the National Housing Strategy and, where possible, working with the provinces and local service managers to enhance evidence-based, best practice models to ensure effective integration among health and housing policies.