Charles “Charlie” George is a Heiltsuk First Nations wood carver living at Nuutsumuut Lelum with his wife and three sons. Credit: BC Housing

Canada’s National Housing Strategy is a 10-year, $55-billion plan to help house Canadians. Led by CMHC, the National Housing Strategy (NHS), announced in 2017, confirms the federal government’s leadership role in housing.

The NHS’s bold plan for the next 10 years includes:

• reducing chronic homelessness by 50%
• reducing or eliminating housing need for 530,000 households
• creating 125,000 new housing units
• repairing and renewing more than 300,000 housing units
• protecting 385,000 community housing units and expanding by another 55,000 units

The Province of British Columbia has a 10-year bilateral agreement with the federal government for $990 million of investment in social and community housing, in addition to $705 million of previously planned federal investment through the Social Housing Agreement.

What does this look like in BC communities? Who are the people this investment is helping? CMHC’s Gabriel Teo offers three stories that demonstrate the impact the NHS is already making on the lives of Canadians.

Co:Here, in Vancouver, creates a supportive community by having people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds live together as neighbours. Residents share the day-to-day patterns of life, including cooking, celebrations, and house-policy decision-making.

Nuutsumuut Lelum, Nanaimo’s first affordable housing for families built in the last 20 years, creates a sense of community by bringing together individuals and families of various ages and backgrounds.

The Sanctuary, operated by Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, provides supportive housing for 12 single women, along with six mothers and their babies. Union Gospel Mission has a mix of integrated services and programs, including 24/7 support for women in drug and alcohol recovery and on-site childcare.

Download Summer 2019

Read about the residents of these different types of supportive projects in Teo’s “Helping Canadians Access Housing: Stories from the National Housing Strategy” in the Summer 2019 edition of Input. Download Summer 2019

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