Governments at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels across Canada increased investments in housing by 10.4% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, as compared to the previous fiscal year, according to new figures released today by Statistics Canada as part of their government revenues and expenditures database. This brings consolidated government investments in housing to almost 1% of overall government spending – about the same level as the early 1990s before a massive round of federal and provincial spending cuts and downloading decimated most housing programs and triggered a nation-wide affordable housing crisis and homelessness disaster. Since 1999, most housing advocates have been calling for the One Percent Solution – which would require consolidated government spending to rise by 1% to a total of 2% of overall spending. Today’s numbers show that governments are now halfway to the One Percent target, and demonstrates that effective policy work by housing advocates has had a positive effect on ramping up government investments. The 10.4% annual increase in housing investments is the single biggest year-over-year increase among the 16 categories of government spending monitored by Stats Canada. More details on the housing investments, including provincial breakdowns and per capita spending numbers, will be set out in the Wellesley Institute’s State of the Nation’s Housing report card, which is being released in several segments in the coming weeks.