The following statement was issued today by Peter Milczyn, Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy, following the release of the federal National Housing Strategy:
“I would like to thank the federal government for partnering with the provinces and territories to create a National Housing Strategy. We have always said that all three levels of government must work together to make sure people have their housing needs met.
As Minister, my goal is to make sure that everyone in Ontario has an affordable and suitable place to call home. That is why we released our sixteen-point Fair Housing Plan earlier this year, our Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy Update in 2016, and it’s why we have committed to ending chronic homelessness by 2025. Our government is investing more than $1 billion each year in housing, and we’re pleased to finally have a federal partner after years of advocating on the national level.
Housing is a basic need. When people have affordable, adequate, suitable homes they can thrive in their communities and in their jobs. They can take better care of their family and save for the future. We need to work together to ensure everyone has the right place to call home.
I am happy that the federal government has heard our call to preserve baseline funding for existing social housing. It was important to us to ensure that any agreement allowed the hundreds of thousands of families who live in social housing to have stability and predictability. Along with recent investments that our government has made in major repairs, this will help us modernize Ontario’s social housing system. I am also happy to see a commitment to build and renovate new and existing affordable housing through a new co-investment fund, which will increase housing supply.
We are pleased to have a federal partner on housing and look forward to working together to finalize the details of the National Housing Strategy.”
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