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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 198

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 16, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 198 - May/17/23
Mr. Anthony Housefather (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Lib.)
  • May/17/23 12:17:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. Housing affordability is one of the most important challenges in the country today, especially for the most vulnerable people. Everybody needs and deserves a place to call home. It is why we have made housing a priority since the beginning of our mandate. It is why we launched Canada's first-ever national housing strategy in 2017, and it is why we have continued to add new programs, new approaches and new adjustments in subsequent budgets since then. One of our newest programs, the housing accelerator fund, is designed to reduce the turnaround time on new housing. It provides incentives to municipalities to cut red tape and streamline their processes. Applications are being accepted as of this month, but as a former mayor and former councillor, I say we have to work with municipalities. I was incredibly disturbed to see the Conservatives' demands toward municipalities, with respect to what they needed to do for housing funds. That is not the correct approach. We need to work with our municipal partners. What we need is a systematic change to how housing is built in this country and to introduce changes that will pay off long into the future. The program I am talking about is built on collaboration with our municipal partners, and we are continuing that collaborative approach with a new co-operative housing development program. We are working directly with the Co-operative Housing Federation Of Canada and others in this sector on this initiative, and we are backing that work with $500 million in contribution funding and $1 billion in loans. That amounts to the largest investment in building new co-op housing in this country in more than 30 years. These are just a couple of examples of activity happening now through the national housing strategy, and adjustments are being made to build on its success. I can stand here tonight and throw out numbers that show that the plan is succeeding, numbers that show that, generally, we are ahead of schedule on most of the strategy's metrics. I would rather stand here though and tell members about lives that have been touched through the strategy's programs. I would rather talk about Canadian Forces veteran Bill Beaton, who went from being homeless to living in a veteran's house, a supportive housing facility constructed with funding from the national housing co-investment fund, or Krystal in Surrey, British Columbia, who experienced poverty as a child. As an adult, she is helping the next generation of indigenous people in Surrey through the Skookum housing solutions project. There are real people who have benefited from the government's work on housing across the country. We will continue this work in partnership with our friends in the NDP, in pursuit of housing affordability for all, and I hope we can count on the support of the other parties in the House to do that.
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Context: House Hansard - 198 - May/17/23
Mr. Anthony Housefather
  • May/17/23 12:21:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will close with this thought. First of all, we absolutely share the desire, the hon. member and myself, as well as, I think, people from all of our parties, to make sure that everybody in this country has a home, that everybody in this country who is vulnerable is given the chance to have affordable housing. That is what we all need to strive for. As to the question from the hon. member, I will be very happy to go back to check with the minister's office on the status of her request. I will come back to her tomorrow at question period, when I can find out the answer to that question.
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