The Municipal Role in Housing
Municipalities, provinces, and the federal government have all recently produced plans and strategies to address Canada’s housing affordability crisis, highlighting the need to ensure proper coordination across governments.
The four papers in this report identify the ideal role of municipalities in housing policy, where municipalities currently face constraints, how other orders of government can support municipalities, and where intergovernmental cooperation is needed.
Carolyn Whitzman, Alexandra Flynn, Penny Gurstein, and Craig Jones discuss the need to increase federal and provincial funding to support municipal action on affordable housing.
Lilian Chau and Jill Atkey argue that the approvals process needs to be streamlined to accelerate construction of non-profit rental housing.
Greg Suttor writes that when it comes to social housing, cities need regional and federal-provincial partnerships.
Nick Falvo contends that increased investment in municipally led programs is necessary to tackle homelessness.
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About the Who Does What Series
This is the first paper in the Who Does What series. Over several reports, this series will gather academics and practitioners to examine what role municipalities are best suited to play in key policy areas, the reforms required to ensure municipalities can deliver on their responsibilities, and the collaboration required among governments to meet the country’s challenges.