With more people becoming homeless across Canada, Budget 2024 is a big chance for the government to help. It needs to fix the problems now and make long-term plans to solve housing issues in communities everywhere.
Even though homelessness is a big problem, it can be solved. The choices and money spent in the next budget can help right away. The National Housing Accord, made by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, REALPAC, and the PLACE Centre, gives a plan to make housing affordable again, protect vulnerable people, and build at least two million new affordable homes by 2030. Canadians want the government to lead and end homelessness.
Key Actions Proposed by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness in Budget 2024
In Budget 2024, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness asks the government to do six important things to end homelessness:
Follow the National Housing Accord
Canada needs to build at least 655,000 non-market community housing units. This will help make housing affordable and ensure everyone has a safe place to live. Canada is behind other countries in having enough community and affordable housing.
Create a Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit
The high cost of living and rising housing prices are causing more homelessness. People need help to keep their homes and avoid becoming homeless. This benefit would give financial support to those at risk and help people experiencing homelessness move into housing.
Start an Encampment Response Program
Homeless encampments are growing because people have nowhere safe to go. Encampments are not safe. Budget 2024 should fund a program to help people move from encampments to secure housing. This program would support communities to find local solutions focused on housing.
Continue and Expand Reaching Home
Reaching Home, started in 2018, helps cities fight homelessness with vital funding. This funding has been cut and will be cut more, even as homelessness increases. Without renewed funding, communities can’t keep helping people find housing, worsening the crisis.
Create a Refugee and Asylum Seeker Resettlement Program
Shelters are crowded with asylum seekers. In Toronto and Vancouver, many shelter beds are taken by asylum seekers. Some people escaping violence have died waiting for shelter. The government needs a program to help refugees find housing without using homeless shelters. This includes building reception centers at borders and airports.
Increase Homelessness Funding
Budget 2024 proposes $1 billion over four years for Reaching Home to stabilize funding and support important work to reduce homelessness. The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness is worried about the growing number of homeless people and the lack of support for them.
Homelessness in Canada is rising. In 2023, nearly 5,000 people were homeless in Metro Vancouver. In Quebec, about 10,000 people were homeless in 2022, nearly double the number from 2018. Many are waiting for social housing. Budget 2024 also proposes $250 million over two years to help with encampments and unsheltered homelessness, with provinces and territories matching the federal investment.
Municipal leaders responded positively to the budget’s focus on housing and homelessness. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities said it welcomed the investments. The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness called Budget 2024 the most ambitious housing plan by the federal government in 50 years but said more support is needed.
As Budget 2024 aims to create quality jobs for Canadians, tackle rising living costs, and secure future prosperity, a robust housing policy must be part of the solution. The housing crisis demands Canada’s immediate focus, and the federal government must respond with the necessary urgency and ambition in Budget 2024.
