Federal housing minister calls on Ontario to do more for social housing

Federal Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith is calling connected the Ontario government to bash much to code societal lodging needs successful the province.

At a property league successful Ottawa to denote a caller woody connected lodging the stateless betwixt Ottawa and astir a twelve municipalities in Ontario and Saskatchewan, Erskine-Smith said that while Ontario has accrued its supports for the homeless, the authorities of Premier Doug Ford has reduced supports for assemblage lodging “by astir the aforesaid amount.”

“We request assemblage lodging if we privation a semipermanent solution. A structure furniture conscionable doesn’t connection the stableness we each need,” Erskine-Smith said astatine his archetypal announcement since taking implicit the lodging portfolio past month.

“As we’ve ramped up national spending connected assemblage and societal housing, the Ontario government has seen acceptable to trim its ain commitments successful this space.”

Erskine-Smith said the state has seen spending connected societal lodging diminution by astir 10 per cent, adjacent aft factoring successful national commitments.

“Ontario is the lone state — the lone state — wherever work for societal lodging has been downloaded to municipalities,” Erskine-Smith continued.

“It doesn’t request to beryllium this way, and frankly it wasn’t ever this way.”

Erskine-Smith’s archetypal announcement was a two-year, $91 cardinal statement with nine Ontario municipalities, arsenic good arsenic Regina and Saskatoon, to enactment the municipalities’ encampment effect plans. The municipalities volition lucifer Ottawa’s contributions.

Those plans see creating caller structure spaces and expanding transitional lodging options.

A akin woody worthy $6.4 cardinal was signed with the City of London successful December.

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The national authorities made deals straight with the municipalities aft being incapable to travel to agreements with the governments of Ontario and Saskatchewan.

While the agreements preceded him, Erskine-Smith said those 2 provinces were not consenting to lucifer the government’s contributions.

“I did talk with the curate in Ontario, and helium indicated determination was ever a willingness successful reaching a deal, and things went sideways for 1 crushed oregon another,” helium said.

“Obviously, timeliness was a information here. When winter’s coming, you gotta marque definite you’re delivering each the supports you request successful a existent abbreviated play of time. At the extremity of the day, we conscionable needed to get these deals done and truthful had to scope straight to municipalities.”

Erskine-Smith said deals person been reached with each different provinces and territories, with details to beryllium announced successful the coming weeks.