People Are Homeless Because There’s Not Enough Affordable Housing, Says Housing Minster

A new home is displayed for sale in Ottawa on July 14, 2020. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Canada’s housing minister says the government should ensure those who cannot work still have a home.

Minister Sean Fraser made the comments at a Senate banking committee meeting on Nov. 23.

“If you are an adult working in Canada you should be able to buy a home,” Mr. Fraser said. “That is my belief.”

He added that there need to be provisions for those who can’t buy their own home.

“If you cannot work you should have a home too,” said Mr. Fraser. “Government should work together to provide it to you. In a country as wealthy as Canada it is very difficult to accept that people go to sleep without a roof over their head. These problems are solvable.”

Mr. Fraser also told the committee that people don’t choose to be homeless.

“People who live without a house are not homeless because of their ancestry. They’re not homeless because of their mental health or addictions. They’re not homeless because they live in poverty. They’re homeless because there’s not enough affordable housing in their community.”

However, Mr. Fraser did not explain to the committee how the government would solve the housing shortage, which the Canadian Housing And Market Corporation (CMHC) identified in a 2022 report.

The CMHC says 3.5 million new homes are needed over the next seven years to restore affordability in the market.

“I think it is a very ambitious goal,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, told the Commons finance committee on Sept. 28.

“It is going to be difficult to attain. I don’t see how we will attain it with the current environment.”

Mr. Dugan has said it would cost $1 trillion to reach the goal.

“It shows that the government alone can’t fix this problem,” he said during an Oct. 26 Senate committee meeting. “We need to work closely with the private sector especially given that it supplies 96 percent of housing in Canada.”

Cost of Homes Unaffordable for Many

Canada’s housing market has become unaffordable, even for those who are fully employed.

Recently, mortgage comparison website Rates.ca found that homes in Vancouver cost 249 percent more than most people can afford while homes in Toronto are 210 percent higher.

Researchers calculated average home prices in different Canadian cities and compared them with average incomes in the areas. They found that many households would not be able to buy a home.

The nationwide median income for Canadians is $79,876, which means most households qualify for a mortgage of $299,500, which allows them to buy a home worth $315,000 when the down payment is factored in.

However, the average price of a home in Canada is $757,600, or 141 percent more than what an average family can afford.

Moreover, current homeowners are struggling to keep up with payments.

The 2023 CMHC Mortgage Consumer Survey says that 24 percent of borrowers are strapped as monthly mortgage costs rise along with interest rates.

Neil Sharma contributed to this report.