2022 Reports 5 to 8 of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada

Report 5—Chronic Homelessness

At a Glance

Overall, Infrastructure Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation did not know whether their efforts improved housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness or chronic homelessness and for other vulnerable groups.

As the lead for Reaching Home, a program within the National Housing Strategy, Infrastructure Canada spent about $1.36 billion between 2019 and 2021—about 40% of total funding committed to the program—on preventing and reducing homelessness. However, the department did not know whether chronic homelessness and homelessness had increased or decreased since 2019 as a result of this investment.

For its part, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, as the lead for the National Housing Strategy, spent about $4.5 billion and committed about $9 billion but did not know who was benefiting from its initiatives. This was because the corporation did not measure the changes in housing outcomes for priority vulnerable groups, including people experiencing homelessness. We also found that rental housing units approved under the National Housing Co‑Investment Fund that the corporation considered affordable were often unaffordable for low-income households, many of which belong to vulnerable groups prioritized by the strategy.

Despite being the lead for the National Housing Strategy and overseeing the majority of its funding, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation took the position that it was not directly accountable for addressing chronic homelessness. Infrastructure Canada was also of the view that while it contributed to reducing chronic homelessness, it was not solely accountable for achieving the strategy’s target of reducing chronic homelessness. This meant that despite being a federally established target, there was minimal federal accountability for its achievement.

Moreover, the initiatives under the strategy were not integrated, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada were not working in a coordinated way. In our view, without better alignment of their efforts, Infrastructure Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation are unlikely to achieve the federal National Housing Strategy target of reducing chronic homelessness by 50% by the 2027–28 fiscal year.

The lack of a more recent estimate of chronic homelessness meant that the department did not report up‑to‑date information or make adjustments so that the Reaching Home program met its objectives and contributed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, Goal 11 is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. A Canadian target related to this goal is to reduce chronic homelessness by at least 31% by March 2024. In our view, given the results as of 2019, it is unlikely this target will be met unless significant actions are taken.

Visit our Sustainable Development page to learn more about sustainable development and the Office of the Auditor General of CanadaOAG.

Exhibit highlights

The housing continuum

Source: Adapted from About Affordable Housing in Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2018

Text version

The housing continuum has the following stages:

• Homelessness
• Emergency shelter
• Transitional housing
• Supportive housing
• Community housing
• Affordable housing
• Market housing

Breakdown of $78.5 billion in planned spending under the National Housing Strategy (amounts show are in millions of dollars)

Note: As part of the Budget 2022 announcement, an additional $580 million was announced for the Reaching Home program and an additional $2 billion was announced for CMHC‑led initiatives. These amounts are not included above.

Source: Adapted from various public sources and documents provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada

Text version

This pie chart shows the breakdown of $78.5 billion in planned spending under the National Housing Strategy (amounts are in millions of dollars).

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Infrastructure Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, provinces, and territories receive funding under the strategy for the following programs:

• National Housing Co‑Investment Fund is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation program that planned to spend $13,851,000,000.
• Legacy funding for social housing is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation program that planned to spend $11,170,000,000.
• Rapid Housing Initiative is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation program that planned to spend $2,544,000,000.
• Federal Community Housing Initiative is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation program that planned to spend $618,000,000.
• Federal Lands Initiative is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation program that planned to spend $202,000,000 in provincial and territorial funding.
• Canada Community Housing Initiative is a program that planned to spend $8,600,000,000 in federal, provincial, and territorial funding. The program is administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, provinces, and territories.
  • Of this, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation planned to spend $4,300,000,000, and the provinces and territories planned to spend $4,300,000,000.
• Canada Housing Benefit is a program that planned to spend $4,315,000,000 in federal, provincial, and territorial funding and is administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, provinces, and territories.
  • Of this, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation planned to spend $2,315,000,000, and the provinces and territories planned to spend $2,000,000,000.
• Reaching Home program and Homelessness Partnering Strategy is a program that planned to spend $3,524,000,000 in funding and is facilitated by Infrastructure Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada.
• The provinces and territories planned to spend $1,127,000,000 in other funding that they provided.
• Other CMHC‑led initiatives planned to spend $32,544,000,000.

Rental housing units considered affordable and approved under the National Housing Co‑Investment Fund were often unaffordable for low-income households across Canada in 2020

Text version

This map of Canada shows the percentage of before‑tax income that would be spent on rent in each province and territory in 2020. For each province and territory, the maps shows whether rent would be affordable or unaffordable for low‑income households, according to data from 2020. The map shows that low‑income households would afford rent in 2 territories and 4 provinces and would not afford rent in 1 territory and 7 provinces.

A table under the map shows rent and income amounts rounded to the nearest $10. Amounts are based on data published at the national, provincial, and territorial levels.

According to Statistics Canada, low‑income households are defined as having after‑tax income of less than half of the median after‑tax income (for example, if median income is $50,000, the maximum income to be considered low income would be $25,000).

Rental housing units considered affordable and approved under the National Housing Co‑Investment Fund were often unaffordable for low‑income households across Canada in 2020

Regions	Maximum annual before‑tax income for low‑income households that rentNote 1, Note 2, Note 3	Maximum affordable monthly rentNote 2, Note 3 (less than 30% of before‑tax income)	Monthly rent at about 63% of median market rentNote 2, Note 3, Note 4	Percentage of before‑tax income that would be spent on rent
Across Canada	$24,230	$600	$630	31.1%
Alberta	$28,690	$710	$720	30.1%
British Columbia	$28,540	$710	$820	34.3%
Manitoba	$21,130	$520	$660	37.6%
Newfoundland and Labrador	$22,280	$550	$530	28.6%
New Brunswick	$21,180	$530	$500	28.4%
Northwest Territories	$44,570	$1,110	$1,110Note 5	29.9%
Nova Scotia	$22,690	$560	$640	34.0%
Nunavut	$45,570	$1,130	$1,750Note 5	46.0%
Ontario	$25,860	$640	$800	37.2%
Prince Edward Island	$25,660	$640	$550	25.6%
Quebec	$21,810	$540	$490	26.7%
Saskatchewan	$24,710	$610	$630	30.5%
Yukon	$47,090	$1,170	$8105	20.7%
Source: Based on data published by Statistics Canada and data published and provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation