Minority government should be good news for affordable housing, refugees

The federal election results should bode well for stakeholders concerned with homelessness, affordable housing and refugee sponsorship and support. These include Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Community Ministries: Cornerstone Housing for Women, Centre 454, The Well, St Luke’s Table, Centre 105 and the Refugee Ministry.

While they benefit from the just-completed Building a Community of Hope Fundraiser, they also depend on public funding to operate as effectively as they do.  And while much of the funding comes through the City or the Province, it is substantially backed up by federal programs and policies.

That’s why it’s important for the diocese to join with others and make the experience and the needs of the Community Ministries known to government. Housing was a paramount election issue. And perhaps it isn’t coincidental that a lobby of 175 stakeholders participated in a campaign to hold the parties’ feet to the fire on housing issues.

What is the impact of a re-elected Liberal minority government that will need at least 11 votes from the opposition parties to pass legislation? (Final results were 159 Liberal, 119 Conservative, 33 Bloc Quebecois, 25 NDP and 2 Green.)

The 2021 Liberal budget plan to invest $2.5 billion and re-allocate $1.3 billion to speed construction, repair or support 35,000 affordable housing units will go ahead. The same goes for the $1.5 billion in new funding for converting non-housing facilities into affordable housing.

The $567 million in the budget of new funding for cities to prevent and reduce homelessness will be secure. As well, the budget provided $2 million to strengthen the refugee Settlement Program.

Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, has called the $567 million “a lifesaving investment” that will play a leading role in the campaign to end homelessness. That is all good news for an emergency shelter badly in need of new facilities.

The budget will prove more significant than the Liberal election platform which was heavily-weighted in favour of market housing and home ownership.  It is always possible that one of the opposition parties which did place strong emphasis on supportive housing, could use one of their promises as a bargaining chip in the negotiations that are inevitable in a minority parliament.

These include waiving the GST on construction of affordable housing (NDP); a permanent increase in funding to end homelessness (Bloc); and measures to encourage investment in rental housing (Conservative).

The election results are equally positive for stakeholders in refugee settlement.  Faced with the Afghan disaster, the Liberals promised to raise the number of eligible refugees from 20,000 to 40,000. There was no dissent from the other main parties.

Again, re-election of the Liberal minority signals a continuation of measures the government took earlier this year to expedite the processing of applications and to improve pre- and post-arrival support services for the highly successful private sponsorship program, of which the Refugee Ministry has played a significant role over the years. In 2019 the Diocese in co-operation with other groups landed a record 242 refugees.

The Refugee Ministry has been in a “holding pattern,” awaiting details from the government and ready once again to facilitate another wave of refugees.