2021 Budget Support For Affordable Housing

This article outlines the proposed funding in Canada's 2021 Budget for affordable housing initiatives. With market prices skyrocketing while the employment rate plummets, Canada's housing crisis is deepening amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  The rising housing costs coupled with decreased job opportunities increases social inequality and has a devastating impact on the country's most vulnerable populations.

In response to the “COVID-19 recession” the 2021 Budget commits to investing $2.5 billion and reallocating $1.3 billion in existing funding to speed up the construction and repair of affordable housing units.

The government proposes to invest $1.5 billion in 2021-22 for the “Rapid Housing Initiative”, adding a minimum of 4,500 new affordable units. The first round of funding for this program provided capital contributions through funding agreements with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and was administered in two streams. The “Projects Stream” was open