The Liberal Party of Canada leadership race is underway. The successful candidate will run in an upcoming federal election that will significantly shape Canada’s social, economic and political future. Whomever becomes the new leader, they must present, and deliver on, an inspiring vision for a future for Canada that is centred on ensuring this country is a place where all residents have the resources and opportunities they need to be healthier and more resilient.
People in Canada are facing the impacts of the mounting cost of living, an aging population, health system pressures, worsening mental health and well-being, and climate change. There are significant and worsening inequalities in exposure to the social factors that impact health. For instance, income, poverty, employment, food security and housing vary depending on who you are and where you live. These inequalities have direct impacts on health that disproportionately and negatively impact Indigenous, Black and other racialized populations, low-income groups, people with disabilities, newcomers and 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
These challenges and inequalities are likely to be what is on the minds of voters as they look to select not only the new Liberal Party leader, but the next Prime Minister of Canada. If the candidates want to inspire hope and build trust among an increasingly fractured population, they must provide a vision for change that clearly sets out what a healthy Canada looks like, and what they will do to achieve it.
Beginning with a blog about ensuring everyone in Canada can access the resources they need to thrive, Wellesley Institute is providing recommendations on issues we hope to see leadership candidates address, and to see members and supporters consider as they cast their votes. Below, we examine housing.
Housing
Housing is an essential social determinant of health and is closely linked to poverty and poor health outcomes. Everyone should have access to healthy housing, which we define as being affordable (costing no more than 30 per cent of income), adequate to their needs, and healthy.
We face a triple crisis in housing – attainability (people cannot afford the home they want), affordability (people cannot afford their rent or mortgage), and homelessness.
The previous government has for some time sought to address housing attainability. However, inadequate effort has gone towards ending chronic homelessness and ensuring long-term affordable and healthy housing for all.
The next leader must lay out their plan for ending chronic homelessness within 10 years. While this a promise that has been committed to previously by all levels of government, we have fallen very far from that goal, with homelessness and chronic homelessness continuing to increase year over year. Recent budgets have taken some action on this issue, including through providing $250 million in additional funding to address encampments and unsheltered homelessness, part of which could be used to create supportive housing units. But there remains a lack of strategy and planning with concrete measures and targets that will be used to lift people out of homelessness for the long-term.
Supportive housing units provide critical on-site supports that help many individuals achieve housing stability. Right now, the demand for these units far outpaces the supply. Rough estimates point to Ontario alone needing at least 40,000 units. This could be higher, however, due to a lack of data and measurement.
Candidates must show the public how they will lead on this multi-generational challenge and coordinate with other levels of government and sectors to achieve healthy housing for all. To start, they should:
- Lead the provinces, territories and municipalities on the creation of a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness.
- Fully fund an Indigenous-led strategy to end Indigenous homelessness.
- Commit to providing the capital funding needed for the development of enough supportive housing units for everyone who needs one in every community across Canada.
- Prevent homelessness by building affordable housing, providing rent supports, ensuring affordable housing is not transformed into market units, and expanding income security.
- Ensure the federal government has a coordinated strategy that addresses attainability and homelessness, including publicly available data on who benefits and who is left out from all three.
Homelessness is a scourge that devastates health, but it is a problem with known, evidence-based solutions. Canada’s next Prime Minister must prove we can come together across the country and end homelessness for good. It is possible to live in a country that we know has made healthy housing a reality.