La version française de ce billet se trouve ici.

With a federal election taking place in Canada on September 20, the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada has released its platform, which includes important housing-related measures.

Here are 10 things to know.

1. The NDP pledges to create at least 500,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years. This compares with the roughly 1.6 million Canadian households currently in core housing need (meaning households currently having difficulty affording suitable, appropriate housing). The platform does not specify what “affordable” would mean in this context.

2. The platform contains a vague pledge pertaining to the creation of “fast-start funds.” According to the platform, such funds would speed up the development of social housing by accelerating the application process and facilitating access to properties.

3. The NDP says it would waive the federal portion of the GST/HST on the construction of new affordable rental units. The for-profit rental development industry has lobbied for the removal of GST from all new rental construction in Canada. It is not clear which new rental units would qualify for GST exemption under the NDP’s proposal. If all new rental units were exempted from the GST, this could be quite costly in foregone tax revenue.

4. The NDP would re-introduce 30-year terms for CMHC-insured mortgages. This is directed at first-time home buyers (typically middle-quintile income earners). The current terms for new home buyers are for 25 years. Raising this threshold to 30 years would improve access to home ownership and reduce shortages in the rental market; however, it might also have the unanticipated effect of raising the price of starter housing.

5. The platform commits to doubling the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to $1,500. While such a subsidy is modest in comparison with the cost of a down payment, it may be just enough to enable some households to buy. Again, such a measure could have the effect of both creating some slack in the rental market (i.e., making more units available to prospective tenants) while also exerting upward pressure on the selling price of starter houses.

6. The NDP would “facilitate co-housing,” by encouraging co-ownership agreements (including with financing assistance). I am not aware of Canadian research on this topic, nor have I seen the idea debated in any detail.

7. The platform commits to a 20% Foreign Buyer’s tax. This would apply to the sale of homes to persons who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents. There are advantages and disadvantages to such a tax; I’ve previously blogged about this topic here.

8. The NDP would work with provincial and territorial governments to create a property registry. This would have the goal of increasing transparency about who owns properties. The NDP would also require “reporting of suspicious transactions in order to help find and stop money laundering.” British Columbia’s government has commissioned two reports on money laundering in real estate—Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

9. The platform makes several laudable statements that are not supported by specific commitments. For example, the NDP commits to “fully implementing the right to housing,” but does not explain what that means. The NDP would work “toward the goal of ending homelessness in Canada within a decade…,” but the platform does not explain how that would be achieved. The platform further commits the party to working with other orders of government to “fast-track the purchase, lease and conversion of hotels and motels for emergency housing relief until more permanent, community-based solutions are available…,” but again without details.

10. The platform makes no mention of supportive housing. Supportive housing refers to subsidized housing with social work support, typically geared toward specific marginalized populations (e.g., persons with serious mental health challenges). It has long been considered an important policy response to long-term homelessness.

In sum. The NDP’s housing platform is ambitious, but short on details—none of the measures are costed out in the platform document. It also contains surprisingly little detail about measures that would address long-term homelessness. Having said that, the NDP should be commended for being the first federal party to release their housing platform.

I wish to thank the following individuals for assistance with this blog post: Jill Atkey, George Fallis, Michel Laforge, Christina Maes Nino, Michael Mendelson, Jeff Morrison, Doug Pawson, Steve Pomeroy, Sylvia Regnier, Tim Richter, Vincent St-Martin, Marion Steele, Jennifer Tipple and three anonymous reviewers.

An English-language version of this blog post is available here.

En vue de l’élection fédérale qui aura lieu au Canada le 20 septembre, le Nouveau parti démocratique (NPD) a lancé sa plateforme, qui comprend d’importantes mesures en logement.

En voici 10 faits saillants

1. Le NPD promet de créer au moins 500 000 logements abordables au cours des 10 prochaines années. En comparaison, c’est 1,6 million de ménages canadiens qui ont des besoins de logement impérieux (qui ont de la difficulté à se permettre un logement adéquat et approprié). Le parti ne précise pas ce qu’il entend par « abordable ».

2. La plateforme contient une promesse vague pour la création d’un « fonds de démarrage rapide ». Selon le parti, de tels fonds serviraient à accélérer la construction de logement social en réduisant le processus de demande, et en facilitant l’accès à la propriété.

3. Le NDP s’engage à éliminer la part fédérale de la TPS/TVH sur la construction de nouveaux logements abordables locatifs. Le lobby des promoteurs immobiliers de logements locatifs a milité pour l’annulation de la TPS de toute nouvelle construction de logement locatif au Canada. La proposition du NPD n’est pas claire et ne précise pas quels logements sont visés. Si tous les logements locatifs l’étaient, cela représenterait un important manque à gagner pour les coffres fédéraux.

4. Le NPD permettrait à nouveau à la SCHL d’assurer les hypothèques amorties sur 30 ans. Cette proposition vise les acheteurs d’une première maison (typiquement ceux se situant dans le quintile du centre). Actuellement, la période d’amortissement maximum est de 25 ans pour les nouveaux acheteurs. Augmenter la période d’amortissement maximale à 30 ans faciliterait l’accès à la propriété et atténuerait la pénurie dans le marché locatif; cependant, cela pourrait également augmenter le prix des premières maisons.

5. Le Crédit d’impôt pour l’achat d’une première habitation serait doublé pour atteindre 1 500$. Si une telle subvention demeure modeste comparée au coût d’une mise de fonds, cela pourrait permettre de justesse à certaines familles de passer à l’achat. Encore une fois, une telle mesure pourrait atténuer la pression sur le marché locatif (en libérant des logements pour des locataires potentiels), et en exercer davantage sur le prix des premières habitations.

6. Le NPD veut « faciliter la copropriété » en encourageant des ententes à cette fin (incluant une assistance financière). Je n’ai pas encore pris connaissance de recherche canadienne ni de débat public à ce sujet.

7. La plateforme impose une taxe de 20% aux acheteurs immobiliers étrangers. Celle-ci s’appliquerait à la vente de résidences à des partis qui ne sont ni citoyens canadiens ni résidents permanents. Il y a des avantages et des désavantages à de telles taxes; j’ai abordé le sujet par le passé (en anglais) ici.

8. Le NPD veut travailler avec les gouvernements provinciaux et territoriaux pour créer un registre des propriétés. Cette mesure aurait pour but de rendre plus transparents les véritables propriétaires. Le NPD veut également exiger « le signalement des transactions suspectes afin de mettre fin au blanchiment d’argent ». Le gouvernement britanno-colombien a publié un rapport en deux parties sur le blanchiment d’argent en immobilier. Vous pouvez en lire la première partie et la deuxième partie.

9. La plateforme contient plusieurs énoncés louables sans pour autant les appuyer par des engagements précis. Par exemple, le NPD s’engage à « la mise en œuvre complète du droit au logement », mais n’explique pas ce que cela signifie. Le NPD veut « mettre fin à l’itinérance au Canada d’ici une décennie […] », mais la plateforme n’explique pas comment le parti y arriverait. La plateforme engage le parti à travailler avec d’autres paliers gouvernementaux pour « accélérer l’achat, la location et la conversion d’hôtels et de motels afin de fournir des logements d’urgence jusqu’à ce que des solutions communautaires permanentes soient disponibles […] », mais encore une fois sans préciser comment il y procédera.

10. La plateforme ne mentionne aucunement le logement supervisé. On entend par cela des logements subventionnés comprenant des services sociaux et visant généralement des populations marginalisées précises (par exemple, des personnes vivant avec des troubles importants de santé mentale). Cette méthode est considérée depuis longtemps comme étant une réponse politique importante pour adresser le sans-abrisme à long terme.

En somme, les mesures concernant le logement dans la plateforme du NPD sont ambitieuses, mais elles manquent de précision. Le coût des mesures proposées ne figure pas dans le document. La plateforme contient étonnamment peu de détails sur les façons d’enrayer le sans-abrisme à long terme. Ceci étant dit, on doit féliciter le NPD d’avoir été le premier parti fédéral à dévoiler sa plateforme en matière de logement.

J’aimerais remercier les personnes suivantes pour leur appui à la rédaction de ce billet : Jill Atkey, George Fallis, Michel Laforge, Christina Maes Nino, Michael Mendelson, Jeff Morrison, Doug Pawson, Steve Pomeroy, Sylvia Regnier, Tim Richter, Vincent St-Martin, Marion Steele, Jennifer Tipple and three anonymous reviewers.

This year’s Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) was released on March 17.[1] A general overview of the AFB project can be found here, but in a nutshell, it provides an alternative fiscal framework for Canada’s federal government; it’s released ahead of the actual federal budget in an effort to stir debate about an alternative approach to taxing and spending.

I was primary author of the AFB’s affordable housing and homelessness chapter—that chapter is available here in English and here in French. With that in mind, here are 10 things to know about affordable housing, homelessness and the upcoming federal budget:

1. Federal housing spending is projected to decrease over the next decade (relative to GDP). That’s a key finding of this recent analysis by Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).  Put differently, while some elected officials and advocates seem quite pleased with Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS) the reality is that we should all be very concerned about the future of Canadian housing policy.     
        
2. Federal spending on urban Aboriginal housing in Canada is expected to drop quite considerably. Indeed, the same PBO report cited in point #2 above also notes: “The planned level of funding for federally administered community housing for Indigenous households not living on reserves ($257 million) is less than half the level of funding provided over the prior 10 years ($534 million).” This comes at a time when the growth of Canada’s Indigenous populations is occurring at four times the rate of the rest of our population.        
     
3. Across Canada, federal funding for homelessness is rather modest. For each $1 invested federally, $13 is invested by other sources (mostly provincial and municipal dollars). That assertion is made in this federal report. What’s more, just 5% of new funding under the NHS has been earmarked towards the Trudeau government’s goal of reducing chronic homelessness by half. In light of these unfortunate realities, it’s crucial that Canada’s federal government enhance support for homelessness.
     
4. The National Housing Co-investment Fund (NHCF) has received considerable criticism. Created by the Trudeau government, this program both repairs existing social housing and helps create new housing; it can assist non-profit housing providers as well as for-profit private rental developers. However, it is primarily a loan program (as opposed to a grant program) and has been criticized for providing insufficient funding to make rent levels truly affordable for low-income tenants.      
     
5. Supportive housing providers across Canada need more financial support. Supportive housing refers to specialized housing for vulnerable populations that features professional (i.e., social work) staff support. This is especially helpful for people who have experienced long-term homelessness. The NHS contains no specific provisions for supportive housing, even though one of the Strategy’s stated goals is to reduce chronic homelessness by 50%. [2]
     
6. More than two years after the NHS was unveiled, we’re still waiting for the public release of three Indigenous-specific strategies. At the time that the NHS was unveiled, the Trudeau government said it was “working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations on separate housing plans.” They have yet to be released publicly (though a credible source tells me that agreements have been drawn up). 
     
7. Housing across Canada remains unaffordable, especially in certain cities.[3] Central to the NHS is the planned launch, later this year, of a Canada Housing Benefit (CHB). This benefit will consist of financial assistance to help low-income households afford the rent in both private and social housing units. The Trudeau government estimates that the average beneficiary will receive $2,500 in support per year. This may be too little, too late.
     
8. We’re now expecting a recession, making it even more worthwhile to increase federal investments in affordable housing. There is growing consensus among economists that Canada will soon enter a recession (due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic) whose impact on the Canadian economy will likely last years. Increased capital funding for housing can boost employment during an economic downturn, and deeper rent subsidies can assist low-income households facing labour market challenges to pay for housing.
     
9. The Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan is a short term measure. Announced on March 18, the Plan includes very important social policy items, including an additional $157.5 million in one-time funding for homelessness. However, Canada needs new annual funding commitments to address a lack of affordable housing and homelessness challenges that were in place well before COVID-19.
     
10. This year’s AFB calls for federal funding of $5.25 billion annually over and above what has already been committed by the Trudeau government. Specifically, it calls for: the enhancement of the NHCF with an additional $3 billion in annual grant money for new builds and repairs; the allocation of $2 billion annually to build new supportive housing for vulnerable populations; and the doubling of the federal contribution to the CHB.

In sum. This year’s AFB provides both a list of new, annual spending initiatives pertaining to affordable housing and homelessness, and a macroeconomic framework that can support them.

I wish to thank Susan Falvo, Ron Kneebone, Jeff Morrison, Steve Pomeroy and Vincent St-Martin for assistance with this blog post. Any errors are mine.

[1] For a history of the Alternative Federal Budget, see this overview.

[2] Having said that, supportive housing has received NHCF financing.

[3] For more on how housing affordability varies across Canada, see this two-page analysis by Ron Kneebone and Margarita Wilkins.

 I’m co-author of a new study on cost savings to the health and justice sectors associated Housing First, focusing on Calgary.[1] The other co-authors are Ali Jadidzadeh and Dan Dutton.

Here are 10 things to know:

1. Housing First refers to the immediate provision of subsidized housing (with social work support) to persons experiencing long-term homelessness. With Housing First, there’s no requirement of ‘housing readiness’ on the part of the tenant (i.e., abstinence from drugs or alcohol, or being medication compliant).
    
2. Previous research found there to be cost savings in the health and justice sectors associated with Housing First. However, that research was experimental, meaning that new program settings were developed for the purpose of research. Our study, by contrast, looks at programs already in place, meaning they had several years to evolve and improve before we studied tenant behaviour. It also means that we studied Housing First in the context of a central homeless-serving organization (i.e., the Calgary Homeless Foundation) that has been providing program oversight for many years.   
     
3. Supporting a person in Housing First in Calgary typically costs between $14,000 and $30,000 annually. The precise amount depends on the intensity of the staff support. I’ve referred to this support above as social work support, but it can actually be more specialized than that.  
      
4. The study looks at the impact of Housing First programs on public service utilization for people experiencing homelessness in Calgary. Specifically, we look at single adults without dependants.  
     
5. The study has two main research questions. First, it asks if the delivery of Housing First reduces the utilization of the health and legal systems. It then asks by how much and over what period. (This particular study doesn’t estimate the benefits of Housing First to individual tenants—e.g., improved health, greater life expectancy, etc.)  
     
6. The study is based on a large sample. There are 2,222 individuals in the study’s dataset, spanning the years 2012-2017. The data on individuals was taken both at move-in and in subsequent follow-up assessments every three months.   
     
7. The questionnaires completed by tenants helped us estimate both health and justice costs. Tenants were asked: how many times they’d been hospitalized in the previous three-month period; how many times they’d used Emergency Medical Services in the previous three months; and how many times they’d had interactions with police in the previous three months.  
     
8. The study estimates the actual cost of hospital use thanks to costing data provided by Alberta’s provincial government. Alberta Health publishes reports on the cost of providing hospital and Emergency Room services for people experiencing homelessness. These per-visit costs are higher among persons experiencing homelessness than for the general population.  
     
9. Justice costs are estimated with our knowledge of the cost of the warrant cycle, which we assume to be the average cost of an interaction with police. The estimated cost of police issuing a ticket in Calgary is $139. Arresting an individual who has not paid their tickets costs an additional $135. And the resultant court appearance ranges in cost between $222 and $253. If an individual is convicted, then one day in jail costs $220. Each warrant cycle in Calgary is therefore estimated to cost a total of $1,376, which we use as the unit cost for a single interaction with police.  
     
10. The study finds that every $1 spent on Housing First in Calgary is associated with more than $2 of savings to the public system. In other words, the roughly $42M budgeted by the Calgary Homeless Foundation for Housing First for fiscal year 2018-19 likely resulted in savings of more than $84M in terms of hospital visits, ER visits, and justice services. In the Calgary context, these savings accrue mostly to the province (which funds the health system and courts) and the municipal government (which funds police services).

In sum. This research, which began while Ali and I worked at the Calgary Homeless Foundation, would not have been possible without the cooperation of the Calgary Homeless Foundation and the Government of Alberta. Future research could build on this study by tracking the costs and types of service utilization through linked data.

I wish to thank the following individuals for assistance with this blog post: Dan Dutton, Susan Falvo, Ali Jadidzadeh, Ron Kneebone and Vincent St-Martin. Any errors are mine.

 

 [1] For a full copy of the article, please email me at falvo.nicholas@gmail.com.

By Nick Falvo, Doug Pawson, and Jennifer Tipple

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

End Homelessness St. John’s (EHSJ) is the system-planning organization for the homeless-serving sector in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. In that capacity, EHSJ plays a central coordinating role and funds important initiatives pertaining to long-term planning.

In 2014, EHSJ unveiled the St. John’s Community Plan to End Homelessness 2014-2019; earlier this year, Nick Falvo Consulting was engaged to both assess that Plan and help EHSJ move forward with their next Plan.

Here are 10 things to know:

1. The 2014-19 Plan helped lay the groundwork for a range of housing and supports. These include: an Intensive Case Management program, launched in January 2016; the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing program, focusing on prevention, launched in October 2017; and three Permanent Supportive Housing projects. Nevertheless, community members have articulated the need for more sustainable housing situations. Stakeholders in the sector have been particularly clear about the need for more supportive housing, more low-barrier shelter capacity, and more harm reduction services.

2. Exciting governance changes are happening in the St. John’s homeless-serving sector.  EHSJ historically leaned on community partners for both advisory and governance decisions. Naturally, that led to conflicts of interest that precipitated a new governance direction. Moving forward, EHSJ is transitioning from being under the umbrella of the City of St. John’s into its own non-profit—a transition that will formally take effect in 2019-20. The new EHSJ will be led by a new Executive Director position (hired in March 2019), governed by an independent board of directors, and advised by the community through its new Community Advisory Board.

3. Recent increases in federal funding for homelessness have made a very important difference to St. John’s homeless-serving sector. The federal budgets for 2016 and 2017 respectively led to Canada-wide increases in funding for the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (which has since been renamed Reaching Home). This translated into an additional $1,046,138 for St. John’s homeless-serving sector over a three-period. Put differently, for the five-year period of the St. John’s Plan, St. John’s received 30% more federal homelessness funding than anticipated at the Plan’s outset.

4. The corrections sector in Newfoundland and Labrador creates problems for homelessness. The assessment of the 2014-19 Plan uncovered that inmates in St. John’s are often discharged into homelessness. It is very difficult for a discharged inmate to go directly into housing, in part because landlords want to meet with the tenant before agreeing to sign a rental agreement. It is also very challenging for inmates to see online ads for apartments while in jail. Discharge planning in provincial correctional facilities is part of the role of a Classification Officer, but not every inmate sees a Classification Officer while inside. If an inmate requests to see a Classification Officer, it might take one month to do so. Further, the provincial government requires people to have an address before applying for social assistance, and jail does not count as an address. (Hospitals and the child welfare system also discharge people directly into homelessness, and this is discussed in detail in the forthcoming assessment of the 2014-19 Plan).

5. Once a youth has left Newfoundland and Labrador’s child welfare system, they can be quite vulnerable to homelessness. Housing secured by such youth is often shared; the youth might rent a room in a house with complete strangers. They might struggle in their dealings with housemates and a landlord. St. John’s has some supportive housing available for youth, but these options are in short supply relative to need. Prior to June 2019, youth in the provincial child welfare system could remain in the group home or under the care of a Youth Services case manager until age 18; but they are now allowed to remain in the child welfare system until 21. Local officials who work in the youth homelessness sector have welcomed these changes and believe they have the potential to reduce youth homelessness.

6. The City of St. John’s and EHSJ enjoy a very positive working relationship. The City provides EHSJ with considerable in-kind support, both administratively and operationally. This includes free office space, human resources support, legal support, support with purchasing and procurement, and financial/administrative support. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that the City provides EHSJ with annual in-kind support estimated at $250,000, in addition to an annual cash contribution of $100,000. Going forward, the City has committed to cash contributions in 2019 for $100,000 and in 2020 for $100,000. The City has also supported EHSJ in its new governance structure, supporting EHSJ in seeking the Community Entity status.

7. Service providers in St. John’s are having major challenges with software that tracks persons experiencing homelessness. Canada’s federal government created and now supports the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) software. Many community agencies in St. John’s are using HIFIS 3.8 (an old version of the software), and it has recently come to light that the federal government has reduced its support for HIFIS 3.8 in order to focus on HIFIS 4. It is estimated that it will be at least another year before HIFIS 4 is available to service providers province-wide.

8. St. John’s needs more low-barrier shelter capacity. Some people are barred from all emergency shelters in St. John’s. Further, it is common for all emergency shelter beds in the city to be full. Several stakeholders also expressed concern about the reliance on for-profit shelters in St. John’s—nearly 40% of homeless shelter beds in the city are run by for-profit providers, paid for by provincial government. And some for-profit emergency housing options have no overnight staffing despite the fact that they often house high-need clients. There is also a rather formal approval process for being admitted into any St. John’s emergency shelter funded by NL Housing. Sometimes it can take up to a week for a client to gain admission.

9. Stakeholders have expressed a strong desire to strengthen Coordinated Access (CA). CA is the triage system used to refer people to housing and homelessness supports. Going forward, most stakeholders want more local organizations to make their housing units and program capacity available for direct referrals. Stakeholders also want to see the CA process become more efficient.

10. The most effective objectives and outcomes in a plan to end homelessness are tangible and measurable. The 2014-19 Plan contained six desired outcomes, some including numerical targets (i.e. provide housing and supports for 460 people) and some not (i.e. develop a coordinated homeless-serving system). The assessment found it difficult to measure progress toward outcomes without specific targets. Local stakeholders would like to see more emphasis on key performance indicators in the next Plan.

In sum. A considerable amount of progress has been made in the fight to end homelessness in St. John’s. But more work remains. That future work will be the focus on the 2019-24 Plan, which will be unveiled later this year.

Download Looking Back to Move Forward: An Assessment of Progress on the 2014-2019 St. John’s Community Plan to End Homelessness

This blog post originally appeared at the website of the Homeless Hub.