QUESTION PERIOD — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
National Housing Strategy
October 6, 2022
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate, Senator Gold.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with representatives of the YWCA from my region of Atlantic Canada. The YWCA, as you know, is dedicated to, among the many things that it is dedicated to doing, ensuring the provision of housing solutions that meet the needs of women, gender-diverse people and their families.
Our guests cited several troubling statistics about the gendered housing crisis and they brought those to my attention. For example, one in four women-led single-parent households live in unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable housing. Also, women and gender-diverse people are more likely to experience hidden forms of homelessness, such as couch-surfing or staying with friends and family, meaning that the full scale of the gendered housing crisis is not fully understood.
Senator Gold, will the government heed the call of the YWCA and increase funding under the National Housing Strategy through a grants-based system to fully fund shelter, transitional housing and permanent affordable housing specifically dedicated to women and gender-diverse people?
I thank the honourable senator for the question.
Not every home is a safe home. The pandemic has only intensified this very sad and altogether too often tragic truth.
That is why the government took swift action to support women and children fleeing violence by providing $100 million to women’s shelters, sexual assault centres and other gender-based violence support organizations across the country.
As well, the importance of transitional housing cannot be overstated. The government has made sure, through the National Housing Strategy, that 25% of this 10-year, $70-billion plan is being dedicated to women and children. That means at least 7,000 spaces will be created or repaired for survivors of family violence. In March of this year, $30 million was announced to build 160 new affordable housing units in Regina, 39 specifically designated for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Half of those 39 are second-stage transitional housing.
The government will continue to evaluate emerging needs in terms of financing.
Thank you. I look forward to hearing anything more you have to say about that.
Our guests also informed me that the YWCA has asked the government to develop a national definition of homelessness, one that reflects the unique causes, conditions and experiences of homelessness for women, girls and gender-diverse people.
Senator Gold, can you tell us if the government will commit to developing a national definition of homelessness, one which includes this important gender dimension?
All of the government’s work in this area takes into account the diversity of needs and the diversity of profiles of those in need of this. That said, through the government’s initiative entitled Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, the government is supporting the most vulnerable Canadians in maintaining safe, stable and affordable housing, and also, of course, to try to reduce chronic homelessness.
The government acknowledges that homelessness has an impact in every community in Canada. It affects individuals, families, women fleeing domestic violence, youth, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities. No one escapes.
The Reaching Home initiative continues to support efforts to increase the understanding of homelessness in Canada and to ensure that communities have the information and tools they need to prevent and reduce homelessness, and this is a first step toward raising the issue, not only at the federal level but at all levels of society.
