Peel's 21-year waiting list highlights growing need for social housing

"With little more than a year until some federal housing programs expire in March 2009, all levels of government must focus on finding solutions to the chronic state of under-housing and homelessness too many Canadians experience," Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell said last week, following the recent release of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' (FCM) National Action Plan for Housing.

A member of the FCM Board of Directors, Fennell said the recommendations of the National Action Plan would benefit Canada's large urban communities.

"Peel and other municipalities know that, over time, a lack of decent, truly affordable housing gives rise to complex issues that have deep, long-term effects on the economic, social and cultural health of communities. The FCM plan addresses the need to both build and maintain social housing for lowincome Canadians over the next decade," Fennell said.

FCM's National Action Plan calls on the federal government to adopt a "midrange option," requiring only a marginal increase over current federal spending of $3.35 billion. Those costs would be shared by the federal and provincial/territorial governments, with municipalities playing an active role through local strategies.

Mississauga Councillor Pat Mullin, chair of the human services committee of Peel Regional council, said it's time for the provincial and federal governments to come to the table with stable, long-term funding in place of short-term housing programs. And, she said they need to be more receptive and more responsive to proposals developed by local social housing providers and managers.

"Ensuring predictable, long-term funding of social housing should be the primary role of federal and provincial governments," Mullin commented. "Project and program planning and development should be delegated to local governments who are adept at creating sustainable housing options in their communities in collaboration with local partners to meet local needs."

"Our challenge has been to get these funders to consider proposals that don't fit currently prescribed 'housing program' definitions," she added. "The Region of Peel has made several attempts to present innovative ideas, focused on local opportunities, without success."

"Peel's recent social housing successes are largely the result of Regional council's commitment to increasing the supply of social housing, in spite of the challenges associated with the current hodge-podge of short-term housing programs we have to work with," Mullin observed. "With a 21-year waiting list, the need is keenly felt here, so we are motivated to be creative in developing social housing."

"We hope the FCM is able to get the attention of the federal government which has ignored every approach for years. The FCM recommendations state the obvious - that a raft of disconnected, short-term funding programs aren't doing the job," she said. "We need long-term, stable and flexible funding that relies on the expertise of municipalities to interpret how funding can be leveraged to create more housing options that more people can afford."