Mayor Calls on Government to Address Housing Crisis

Mayor Dennis O’Keefe is joining with other mayors from across the country to call on our provincial, territorial and federal government partners to work with municipalities to address the growing housing crisis across the country.

“We see this issue every day in our own community,” says Mayor O’Keefe, who is currently attending the Big City Mayors’ Caucus meetings in Vancouver, BC ahead of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual General Meeting. “The cost of housing, whether it is rental or home ownership, is growing out of reach for far too many of our residents. We need to all work together to address what is becoming an issue we are seeing Canada-wide. Municipalities are ready to do their part, but this issue is too big for us to deal with alone, we need to develop partnerships with all stakeholders to really tackle our country’s housing crisis.”

$1.7 billion annually in federal housing investments are set to expire with the greatest drop in funding, up to $500 million a year, ending between 2014 and 2019. This will put more than half a million Canadians at risk of losing their homes unless federal, provincial and territorial governments take action.

The Big City Mayor’s Caucus is calling for a new housing partnership by all orders of government dedicated to:

• Eliminating chronic homelessness through proven strategies.
• Stimulating new rental and affordable housing construction with tax incentives or other measures.
• Preserving and renovating existing social housing units.
• Housing workers to support a growing economy.

With the new 10-year infrastructure plan announced in Budget 2013, the federal government built the kind of practical partnership needed to meet this type of national challenge. This partnership must be expanded.

“We strongly believe that housing stability for our residents is fundamental to our prosperity and vibrancy as a city,” says Mayor O’Keefe. “The City has taken a leadership role in this issue through our Housing Charter and Affordable Housing Action Plan, however we need leadership from all levels of government to work together to address this issue in a meaningful way.”

The average price of a new home in Canada nearly doubled between 2001 and 2010 and St. John’s is no different having seen the prices of new homes double since 2004. In fact, for much of the past five years, housing prices in St. John’s rose faster than any other city in Canada.

The rental market features similar issues. In Canada, 32 per cent of Canadians live in one of the 3.9 million rental units available in the country, yet purpose-built rental housing accounts for just 10 per cent of new residential construction over the past 15 years. Here in St. John’s over the past five years we have seen vacancy rates amongst the bottom five in Canada for much of the past five years, with inventory only recently rebounding to healthier levels. The availability of affordable rental units however, still remains very low.

The Big City Mayor’s Caucus represents 22 of the largest cities in Canada. Representatives meet two to three times a year to discuss shared issues.

For further information:
Jennifer Mills
Communications Officer
City of St. John's
Phone: (709) 570-2037
Cell: (709) 690-7586
E-mail: jmills@stjohns.ca

Dennis O’Keefe
Mayor
City of St. John's
Phone: (709) 576-8477
E-mail: dokeefe@stjohns.ca