Mr. Speaker, as the official opposition housing critic, I am extremely honoured to support this motion and speak today about a topic that is very important to me. The people in my riding of Hochelaga often talk to me about this issue, and it should concern every single elected official in the country.
I often say this, but I will say it again: the NDP believes that housing is a right. However, if we are having to debate this motion today, it means that our opinion is not shared by the Conservatives or the Liberals, no matter what they say.
This motion acknowledges the poor decisions made one after the other by previous governments, since 1993 in particular. Of course, I am talking about the Liberals and the Conservatives. These poor decisions resulted in a major housing crisis in Canada, one that is unprecedented.
This motion also proposes a possible solution by calling on the various levels of government to come together and agree on how to renew long-term social housing funding and reinvest in new housing projects as soon as possible.
This is a balanced, pragmatic approach that does not require any new money. It would use existing funding. In the medium and long terms, it would save Canadian taxpayers a lot of money in health care, public safety and emergency services for homeless people.
Regardless of what the Conservatives and the Liberals think, housing in Canada should not be considered an expense that can be eliminated in order to balance a budget. Housing is an investment. Unfortunately, that is not how the two old parties see it. Their actions now and in the past prove it.
At least we know what to expect from the Conservatives. When we asked them to support the Canadian housing strategy bill introduced by my colleague from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, they were faithful to their ideology and all voted against it. That was so predictable.
With the Liberals, we never know which way the wind will blow. Their position depends on the poll of the week, and, as my leader would say, they tend to signal left and turn right.
When the Liberals came to power in 1993, they cut off federal investment in new social housing projects. In 1996, the Liberal government announced the end of the national affordable housing program.
From then on, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's only purpose was to manage the federal government's real estate holdings. Eventually, it became just another government cash cow, effectively turning its back on years of investment in social and affordable housing.
In the late 1990s, when the budget was balanced and people were busy comparing themselves favourably to other countries, they somehow forgot to mention that they balanced the budget by creating a major housing shortage, a decision that would have serious long-term repercussions on people, repercussions that we are feeling to this day.
The irony is that the person who would become the finance minister under Jean Chrétien and would succeed him in 2003, Paul Martin, had previously co-chaired the Liberal Task Force on Housing. The task force produced a report that was published on May 14, 1990, entitled, “Finding Room: Housing Solutions for the Future”. The report accused Mulroney's Conservative government of abandoning its responsibilities for dealing with the housing problems and the crisis at the time. The report included statistics on the housing situation and homelessness in Canada. It denounced the then federal government for its inaction and for abandoning its responsibilities for housing. It argued that the federal government should be a leader on housing in Canada. It listed no less than 25 recommendations.
Honestly, after going through this document, I agreed with most of the recommendations in the report. The problem is that we cannot trust the Liberals. When they are in opposition they will say just about anything to win votes. However, when they are in power, they drop all the plans they presented to the public. That is called electioneering.
The Liberals can talk the talk pretty well when they are in the opposition, but when they come to power, they never walk the walk.
That is exactly what my leader means when he says that the Liberals signal left and turn right.
Canada is still having problems and more than three million Canadians are still looking for affordable housing that will not cost more than 30% of their income for a roof over their heads because the Conservatives, who replaced the Liberals in 2006, are not any better when it comes to housing.
Unfortunately, as political tradition would have it in Canada, the Conservatives also say one thing and do another.
I would say that the Conservatives do not signal at all and simply turn right.
In a press release dated January 12, 2006, just 11 days before the election that brought them to power, the Conservatives criticized the Liberals for precisely what I was just talking about:
The irony is that before becoming Minister of Finance, Paul Martin had called for an increased federal role in supporting affordable housing. He co-authored Finding Room: Housing Solutions for the Future (1990), the report of the National Liberal Task Force on Housing. The Martin report argued that the housing crisis was growing at an alarming rate while the government sat and did nothing, that the federal government should be a partner working with other levels of government, and private and public housing groups, and that leadership must come from one source and required national direction.
How ironic, indeed. When you are in unfamiliar territory, it may be better to say nothing than to preach.
The Conservatives also broke their promises. Everything that was thrown in place was just smoke and mirrors. Today, one out of four Canadian households spends more than 30% of its income on housing, which is the definition for affordable housing. That is more than 3 million families.
Even worse, 37% of households that live in subsidized rental housing, the poorest families in Canada, live in housing that is not affordable. That figure increases to 40% for market rental housing.
What is the response from the other side of the House? It cuts and cuts some more. The long-term agreements signed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation with suppliers of social housing between 1970 and 1993 have begun to expire. Thus, $1.7 billion of 85% of the CMHC annual budget is slowly being eroded.
The Conservatives say that they are not cutting the budget, but their refusal to renew funding upon the expiry of these agreements translates into reductions. They can play with words, but the people affected, those who could see their rent increase by $200 to $500 a month or more because they have lost their rent subsidy, know exactly what is going to happen and are desperately pleading with the government, which continues to turn a deaf ear.
The figures are clear. They are in previous budgets. A total of $65.2 million was cut in just the past three years: $20.2 million in 2011-12, $21.7 million in 2012-13, and $23.3 million in 2013-14. Furthermore, 18,400 households lost their rent subsidy, and the worst is yet to come.
By 2040, there will be nothing left of the $1.7 billion a year formerly invested in social housing. Nothing. Zero. In Canada, one household in three lives in rental housing. Over the past 15 years, rental housing has accounted for only 10% of new housing stock.
The Conservatives' lack of action on social housing has created this crisis situation. While the demand for social housing is increasing—as demonstrated by long waiting lists—the supply of affordable housing is diminishing. We are still waiting for the government to come up with a plan to deal with this increasingly serious situation.
The NDP proposed a plan, a real national housing strategy. Canada is the only G8 country that does not have a such a strategy. The Conservatives collectively rejected this strategy. They are doing nothing and the situation is growing worse.
Given the increasing number of homeless people and the longer and longer wait times for safe, adequate, affordable housing, the federal government needs to stop hiding its head in the sand and ignoring the problem. We have seen that we cannot count on the Liberals or the Conservatives to do anything about housing.
Housing is a priority for the NDP. Social housing is not just an expense; it is an investment. A roof is a right. I urge everyone who is watching today to visit my “A Roof, A Right” campaign website and sign the petition.
