A federal program that helps people living in affordable housing with expenses may be coming to and end and that could spell disaster for thousands of Canadians.
Sandy Christensen is worried about the end of a federal subsidy that helps low-income Canadians pay the rent. The federal program is scheduled to end within a year.
Christensen has lived in the Sarcee Meadows Housing Co-operative for 26 years and started receiving the subsidy last year after breast cancer treatments forced her to stop working.
Christensen says without the subsidy she wouldn't have been able to make ends meet.
“I don't know what I would have done. I mean I would be out on the streets or bunking with relatives. I know first hand how it feels and it could be a horrible, horrible thing for many, many people,“ said Sarcee Meadows Housing Co-op board member Sandy Christensen.
The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada is meeting in Calgary this week to figure out how to lobby government to maintain housing affordability for low-income Canadians.
They say that some federal operating agreements have already expired and many more will end in the next few years.
The loss of these programs could spell disaster for seniors, disabled, working poor and new Canadians living in non-profit and co-operative homes.
"We are asking the minister responsible for CMHC, Diane Finley, to address this critical issue,” says Christensen. “It is our hope that she will work with CHF Canada and SACHA, our local federation, to ensure the most vulnerable Canadians can continue to live in their housing co-operatives."
CTV contacted Minister Finley’s office for a comment on this story and in an emailed response her press secretary stated:
Economic Action Plan (EAP) 2013 announced our government's continued commitment to working with provinces and territories to develop and implement solutions to housing by proposing more than $1.25 billion in federal funding over five years to renew the Investment in Affordable Housing to 2019.
This year, through CMHC, the federal government will invest approximately $2 billion for housing. These investments are improving the quality of life for low-income Canadians, individuals who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, low income seniors, persons with disabilities, recent immigrants and Aboriginal people.
Since 2006, the federal government, through CMHC, has invested an estimated $14.5 billionin housing.
A federal-provincial-territorial framework for affordable housing was announced on July 4, 2011 which provides a $1.4 billion combined investment toward reducing the number of Canadians in housing need.
Jan O'Driscoll
Press Secretary / Attaché de presse
Office of the Hon. Diane Finley, P.C.,M.P./Cabinet de l'hon. Diane Finley, C.P., députée
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development/Ministre des Ressouces humaines et Dévelopment des competences
About 500,000 Canadians receive the rent-to-income subsidy and about 50,000 of those are living in housing co-operatives.
"I really hope that they find somewhere, some funding that they can put aside for co-operative housing so that those that no longer have a connection with them through their mortgage, that they can assist us," said Christensen.
The CHF says that over 1,000 low-income households living in 64 housing co-ops are at risk in Alberta as well as more than 20,000 co-op households in communities across Canada.
(With files from Kevin Green)
