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Habitat for Humanity Canada logo (CNW Group/Habitat for Humanity Canada)

Housing affordability: persistent social crisis flying under the radar

TORONTO, June 28, 2017 /CNW/ - Real estate news coverage in Vancouver and Toronto/GTA has made housing affordability a dinner table conversation. While homeownership has become a lot more expensive for many Canadians, it remains completely out of reach for a large segment of the population. Low income working families, seniors and Indigenous people are disproportionately affected. According to The Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, 12.5 per cent of all Canadian households are in core housing need.¹

While the federal government has taken an important first step and prioritized a national housing strategy as part of its recent budget, the details of the new policy remain in development.  At the same time, the federal government is developing a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy to reduce poverty and improve the economic well-being of all Canadian families.

Dr. Mark Rodgers, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity Canada, has participated in ongoing discussions with the Federal government about the national housing strategy and is available to comment on:

• Why a national housing strategy is so important – who it impacts, how it can work and why its introduction is a necessary first step.
• How the entire affordable housing continuum works. It is possible to transition Canadian families from fully subsidized social housing to affordable homeownership, without ongoing government subsidies, providing much needed stress relief to the social housing infrastructure which is currently strained.
• The challenging circumstances a lack of access to affordable housing creates for Canadian families, and the overall impact on the Canadian economy.
• Habitat for Humanity's model – how it works, how it reduces poverty and the social-economic benefits of its programs. Habitat for Humanity Canada is a non-profit organization that provides affordable homeownership opportunities for working families on low incomes.

¹Canadian Housing Observer 2014 : https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/pdf/68189.pdf

SOURCE Habitat for Humanity Canada

For further information: For interview opportunities please contact: Alyssa Katzikowski, [email protected], Citizen Relations, 416-934-8416 | 416-357-3513