The Liberal government’s new federal affordable housing agency is relying on an outdated and faulty playbook. Details for Build Canada Homes (BCH) show a plan to use public private partnerships (P3s) that invites real estate developers and investors to profit from public housing spending.

Mark Carney’s has made big promises about generational investments in housing. But the Parliamentary Budget Officer has found that federal spending on housing is actually set to drop by 56 per cent by 2028-29.

P3s in social housing

BCH’s mandate is to focus primarily on non-market housing including public, non-profit and co-operative housing. But the investment framework specifies that the private sector is encouraged to work with social housing providers and that builds can happen through P3s.

CUPE is not opposed to all private sector involvement in social housing. It is appropriate for private companies to be involved in designing and building social housing. Private financing has allowed social housing providers to build, though at a higher cost than much-needed government funding and financing could provide. But, the danger in the BCH plan is that private, for-profit corporations could be guaranteed long-term profits through lucrative partnerships with non-profit social housing providers, all supported with public funding and public land.

This approach risks turning social housing, the one segment of the housing sector that has been protected from corporate greed, into a source of profit. Research has shown that treating housing as a way of generating profit, rather than as a human right, is a key driver of Canada’s housing crisis.

Targets and affordability

BCH must release a detailed plan with targets and timelines for the federal government to build social housing. Efforts should be targeted to people in core housing need who spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. It must also include concrete targets to build housing for people who are unhoused.

BCH’s definitions of housing affordability are income-based, a key CUPE demand. Previously, the federal government called housing “affordable” even when most workers couldn’t afford it. But there’s a catch: the agency based its affordability measure on the incomes of both homeowners and renters. That means so-called affordable homes may still be out of reach for many because renters earn less, on average, than homeowners.

The federal government needs to go back to the drawing board and build a new national housing strategy that works for workers. This means using public money and public lands for the public interest, putting restrictions on large-scale investors in residential real estate and creating enforceable minimum standards for tenants, including rent control and vacancy control.

Read more about CUPE’s position on housing in Housing in a Time of Crisis: CUPE’s Policy Statement.