4. Implement a housing benefit – a new program to assist those who face a severe affordability problem in their current accommodation

While the NDP has not announced a housing benefit they have two income-related initiatives that are relevant in terms of making housing more affordable including a $15/hour minimum wage and $15/day childcare. Funding for the “Helping Families Get Ahead” ranges from $694 million in 2016-2017 to $2.6 billion in 2019-2020.

5. Create an affordable housing tax credit

While the NDP have not released specific plans related to an affordable housing tax credit in a June 2015 speech to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Tom Mulcair indicated that the government would:

• Bring in a tax break to encourage construction of 10,000 rental housing over the next ten years.
• Create an income tax incentive to allow people investing in rental housing units.

The NDP told CPH that “The speech in June refers to reviewing tax measures that could make it easier for rental developers to reinvest their capital gains into creating more rental housing. It would require careful analysis and consultation before being implemented, but it is an option for a future government to explore as a potential additional measure to increase housing supply. It is not a part of that $500 million” that has been allocated for new housing. If the NDP acts quickly on this it could dramatically increase the number of units that will be provided.

6. Review and expand investment in Aboriginal housing both on and off reserve

In the recent fiscal spending summary, the NDP includes funding for a category called “Supporting Indigenous Communities” which is described as “support for infrastructure, education and other measures.” The funding is estimated as $604 million in 2016-2017, $579M in 2017-18, $529M in 2018-19 and $594M in 2019-2020. Current spending on Aboriginal housing is $300 million and the SOHC: 2014 indicated that much more money was needed. This is a good start but nowhere sufficient in terms of funding, although the NDP tells us that “there are more details to come for First Nations, Inuit and Métis which will include a housing element. Stay tuned.”

MP Boutin-Sweet’s letter refers to the NDP’s intention to “place special emphasis on the needs of First Nations communities, who are experiencing a severe housing crisis.” In their affordable housing news brief, the NDP states “An NDP government will work with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to improve housing in remote areas.”

Additionally, the NDP says that there are some agreements for aboriginal housing off-reserved but it is difficult to determine the exact proportion within the overall federal housing agreements pool. They say, “We are restoring funding that has expired and disappeared from federal housing and it would be our priority in negotiations with provinces and municipalities to create new agreements targeted to improving housing options for Indigenous Canadians”.