Mr. Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified existing vulnerabilities of the homeless and those who are precariously housed. With REITs and capital funds poised to sweep up older apartment buildings as distressed assets, the older and often lower-rent market rental stock in our community is at serious risk, and the people who call these buildings home at severe risk of displacement.
I have raised this repeatedly in the House, including in December 2020, when it was reported in The Globe and Mail that private buyers were lining up to try to get their hands on rental towers, especially the older buildings, which tend to have lower rents.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people have continued to face skyrocketing rents, ballooning home prices, renovictions and demovictions. The urgency for action is more acute than ever.
The last time the importance of housing was backed up with serious action federally was after the Second World War, when hundreds of thousands of affordable supportive housing units were built by the government to make sure soldiers returning from the war had a place to live. Now veterans who served our country increasingly find themselves without a roof over their head.
Clearly, the Liberals do not feel the sense of urgency to act that at-risk renters, housing providers and housing advocates do. While the Liberals have declared that adequate housing is a basic human right, their actions do not come close to matching their words.
I raised in question period the criticisms of the Parliamentary Budget Officer and housing policy experts of the complete inadequacy of the affordability criteria in the largest parts of the Liberal government's housing strategy, pointing to the announcement of a project in Ottawa providing 65 units at only 21% of median income. This makes the housing sound affordable, but in reality, it is $1,900 a month, nearly 50% higher than Ottawa's average market rent. It is clear to anyone who is honest about the grim reality of the housing crisis that the Liberals' national housing strategy will not achieve what the Liberals claim they are committed to.
Over 40 housing organizations and advocates from across Canada jointly signed a letter to the housing minister listing 11 concrete actions the government must take to address the housing affordability crisis. The NDP fully supports these calls, such as the need to limit the ability of the REITs and large capital funds in the fuelling of the rising costs of housing and rent. This includes the creation of a housing acquisition fund that provides non-profits quick access to capital for acquiring properties that are at risk of going to these funds.
Former UN special rapporteur on housing, Leilani Farha, wrote to the federal government in the early months of the pandemic highlighting the importance of supporting the non-profit sector with such a fund. It was subsequently called for by the Recovery for All campaign and by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as a separate piece from the rapid housing initiative. As of yet, the government has not responded to this call.
My constituents are rightfully asking why these predatory landlords should make hundreds of millions of dollars tax-free when working Canadians often have to spend over 50% of their income on their rent. I ask the government this question.