Affordable housing helps ease social problems: Toronto MP

Housing affects veterans affairs, climate change, the First Nations or Metis situation, urban issues, rural issues, says Adam Vaughan, and the federal budget addresses the need for it.

Thestar.com
March 24, 2017
By Bruce Campion-Smith

Ottawa’s multi-billion dollar investments in affordable housing will help address the root cause of many social problems in urban centres big and small, a Toronto MP says.

“Housing is a tool to solve problems ... You tell me what the issue is, and I’ll tell you how housing helps, whether it’s veterans affairs, climate change, the First Nations or Métis situation, whether it’s urban issues, where it’s rural issues,” Adam Vaughan said Friday.

“Housing is a phenomenally good tool to generate growth, to help people secure a place in the middle class ... It changes health outcomes, helps us deal with addiction,” said Vaughan, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of families, children and social development (housing and urban affairs).

“Some people said it was a caretaker budget. This is one of the most profound investments in the social outcomes and economic outcomes of this country that we have ever seen,” said the MP for Spadina-Fort York.

Wednesday’s budget commits $11.2 billion over 11 years to repair housing stock and build new housing. The budget included help for housing in northern communities and indigenous peoples, and measures to reduce homelessness.

Vaughan said that housing measures included as part of other government initiatives will push the investment much higher.

“It’s a housing budget, and housing touches everybody in this country ... There is not a single place in this country that does not require a housing policy,” Vaughan said on Parliament Hill, just before a meeting of the Liberal caucus.

The promised investments drew praise from municipal leaders and housing advocates. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities hailed it as a “game-changer” for its funding for urban concerns, notably housing.

Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of families, children and social development, has said that housing is a key part of Ottawa’s strategy to reduce poverty.

“Affordable housing is a key component of a family’s ability ... to do well in our communities,” Duclos told reporters ahead of the budget.

The budget’s promised investments now set the stage for the national housing strategy yet to come, a plan that will deal with a range of issues, from chronic homelessness to the affordability of home ownership, Vaughan said.

“We are committed to a full spectrum approach on the issue of housing,’ he added.

He said that Ottawa would be working with provinces, territories, municipalities and indigenous leaders on housing. He said that, for too long, those kind of discussions were restricted to only the provinces and federal government.

“What the new national housing strategy is going to do, with a lot of help from the provinces, is allow for dynamic partnerships on the ground to materialize,” Vaughan said.

“The hard part in any government project is getting the funding. The funding is there for 10 years. Now the fun part starts: we get to start building housing,” Vaughan said.