The Federation of Canadian Municipalities says the new Canada Rental Protection Fund announced by Ottawa last week will help support the country’s critical need for affordable housing.
The FCM says $470 million in grants and $1 billion in loans for affordable housing will help prevent people from falling into homelessness and shield renters from ‘renoviction’ practices.
The FCM says the new funding is ‘crucial’ because Canada is losing existing affordable housing faster than it can be built.
According to the federation, between 2016 and 2021 Canada lost 370-thousand homes that rented below 1-thousand dollars per month.
It also says a fund to protect renters and combat the financialization of housing has been one of the missing pieces in Canada’s housing strategy.
The FCM says also welcomes the new $6-billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund announced by the federal government to help communities, especially municipalities facing record growth.
It says the $1 billion dedicated to urgent community infrastructure needs such as water and wastewater management shows the federal government is responding to the need for more investments in community infrastructure.
FCM President Scott Pearce says it is “clear recognition from the federal government that investing in infrastructure must be part of a plan for growth,” adding that Canada’s housing challenge is also an infrastructure challenge.
The federation says last week’s announcements are timely considering the re-negotiations for the Canada Community Building Fund.
