Advocates want Indigenous control and real funding as skepticism grows over federal housing rollout
The federal government’s new Build Canada Homes (BCH) program was announced as a bold step to address Canada’s housing crisis, but Indigenous leaders and policy analysts have warned that its success will depend on whether Ottawa delivers promised funding and cedes real control to Indigenous communities.
“Any new housing is important, but deeply affordable social housing is really what we’re hoping for,” said Jackie Hunt, senior director of strategy and impact at End Homelessness Winnipeg.
Hunt pointed to a recent street census showing about 2,500 people without stable housing in the city, more than 80% of whom identified as Indigenous, mostly First Nations.
“It’s not just about putting a roof over someone’s head,” Hunt said.
“Many people experience homelessness because of systemic barriers, generational trauma, the Sixties Scoop, and the disproportionately high rates of violence, disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women and girls.”
John Gordon, CEO of the National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI), called BCH “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move quickly and at scale to meet urgent housing needs.” But Gordon stressed that the program must be led by Indigenous people.
“What we’d like to see specifically is Indigenous people controlling the way Indigenous housing is allocated across the country. It has to be for Indigenous, by Indigenous,” he said.
Advocates have long argued that government-led, non-Indigenous approaches have failed to reduce Indigenous overrepresentation in homelessness.
“This would provide real opportunity for our communities to thrive,” said Margaret Pfoh, CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association.
Hunt added that housing must be available across a spectrum, from shelter to homeownership, or “somewhere along that continuum, they fall off and go back to the beginning again. It’s just wasteful,” she said.
Despite the program’s promise, skepticism remains. Hunt noted that only $280 million of a previously pledged $2.1 billion for urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing has reached NICHI, leaving many projects stalled. “We need to see where this [Build Canada Homes] is going to go because that promise was unmet,” Hunt said.
Ray Sullivan, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, said the government must engage Indigenous housing providers in urban, rural and northern areas, not just distinctions-based governments. “The government has delayed focusing on this community sector for years,” Sullivan said.
Federal officials have promised to work closely with Indigenous partners and expand affordable housing, but have not provided specifics on past funding or future benchmarks.
Similarly, Fraser Institute analysts questioned Ottawa’s ability to deliver on BCH, citing the federal government’s poor track record in real estate management.
“Ottawa cannot efficiently downsize its own office footprint despite ample funding and years of effort. That record hardly inspires confidence in its promise to deliver complex housing projects across the country,” they wrote in a Financial Post op-ed.
The analysts warned that BCH could face “poor coordination across the government, competing political priorities, and no real pressure to deliver,” and flagged the risk of taxpayer funding failing to add to the overall housing stock.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration recently announced the launch of BCH, a federal agency tasked with building 4,000 factory-built homes at an initial cost of $13 billion. The move comes as Canadians grapple with an affordability crisis that has put homeownership out of reach for many.
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