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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 17

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 14, 2021 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 17 - Dec/14/21
Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)
  • Dec/14/21 5:14:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is faced with an affordable housing crisis. There is no question that those trying to get into the market and own a home for the first time are having a real tough go of it. We need to address that. One of the ways the NDP proposes to address that is through financialization, not treating housing as though it is a stock market. Beyond that, there is a whole spectrum of people experiencing the housing crisis, those who are unhoused and there are those who are homeless. Right now, outside the Confederation Building, there is a homeless man on the street, in the snow, in the dead of winter in Ottawa. There are those who cannot afford to pay rent. I am not talking about high-cost rent for fancy apartments, just regular apartments, and they cannot even afford that. What needs to be done is to address the whole spectrum of housing needs, not to mention the incredible need for indigenous peoples, who are 11 times more likely to use a shelter. Across the country, 235,000 Canadians use a shelter each year. Will the Conservatives and the Liberals support the NDP's proposal to build 500,000 units of real affordable housing, including co-operative housing, so that people can get housed and get off the streets and have stability and, finally, make sure we actually have a “for indigenous, by indigenous” urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy?
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