Kitchener mayor talks affordable housing with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic spoke with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday about Canada's affordable housing crisis and what the federal government could do to help.

The topic was discussed as part of a virtual meeting of the Big City Mayors' Caucus, part of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), an advocacy group that pushes for local priorities in federal funding.

In an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo after the meeting, Vrbanovic said he told Freeland that one source of stress for the local housing market is when affordable apartment buildings are converted into condominiums.

"Certainly there are tools that perhaps could be made available to help the community housing sector acquire these buildings and ensure that they permanently stay affordable," he said.

"That kind of thing is often less expensive than trying to build new housing and is done in a more timely manner as well."

Another local issue on the horizon, Vrbanovic said, is the fact the mortgages of many affordable housing complexes in the region will come due within the next decade.

"It's going to be important to see new provincial and federal programs come into place to see those particular housing developments continue to be affordable housing in the long term."  

No timeline on addressing homelessness

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, who chairs the caucus of mayors from 22 of Canada's biggest cities, said they also pushed Freeland for a timeline on when the Liberals want to meet their goal of ending chronic homelessness in the country, and when extra housing help is coming for urban Indigenous people.

The Liberals made the promise in last fall's throne speech. 

Iveson said after the meeting that mayors didn't come away with any timeline from the Liberals. He also didn't draw a line in the sand about what target date the mayors had in mind, saying it was something to be worked out between federal, municipal and provincial governments.

In Waterloo region, Vrbanovic said the federal government's Rapid Housing Initiative recently paid for two affordable housing projects in Kitchener and Cambridge, announced last December. The Kitchener project is aimed at women who are either experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, while the Cambridge project targets those on the community housing waitlist. 

Vrbanovic said that initiative will need more funding to pay for affordable housing and to help end homelessness.