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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Blog Housing National affordable housing plan heading back to Commons for final consideration

Michael Shapcott

National affordable housing plan heading back to Commons for final consideration

Draft legislation to create a long-overdue and much-needed national affordable housing plan is heading back to the Commons for third and final reading. Bill C-304 is private member’s legislation from Vancouver East MP Libby Davies that would require the federal government to consult widely and introduce a comprehensive plan within 180 days. As the bill has worked its way through the legislative process, it has drawn the support of the New Democratic Party, Liberals and Bloc Quebecois – along with a lone Conservative. However, a proposed amendment from the Bloc has been ruled out of order by the Speaker, and the Bloc is threatening to vote against the plan. National housing groups are unanimously backing the draft legislation, including Quebec-based groups. The Wellesley Institute appeared at a Commons committee last fall to testify in support of the bill.

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.