Introduction
Housing is an essential human need. The cost, type and amount of shelter pronounce the “supply” side of the Canadian housing market. The number of houses, housing requirements, and people’s income determines the “demand” side of Canadian housing. Housing programs and policies are arrangements governments organise to advance the quality and quantity of houses and lower their costs. The aim of Canadian housing policy is to ensure that houses of the quality standard are provided to every Canadian citizen at affordable prices. In recent decades, government support has been offered through different loans and grants to consumers or developers (McAfee, 2015).
The Canadian social housing policies or programs are directly administered by Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) in the provinces of Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and British Columbia Federal housing programs. The CMHC has continued administering on-reserve selection in all territories and provinces (“Administration of social housing,” 2018).
In the entire Canada, there is a higher demand for housing. An exploration of the housing policy trends across Canada’s history demonstrates that the remedies adopted by the government to realize the challenges deemed critical at a given point have resulted in other that calls for different remedies in the subsequent periods. This indicates that much of the housing policy in Canada build in response to the policy choices that posed challenges before. The purpose of this paper is to explore social housing policy. Specifically, the essay will analyze what social housing policy entails, the forces that led to the enactment of this policy, what Social housing policy assumes about the nature of the problem, and the direction that the policy should take (“Administration of social housing,” 2018).
A reflection on the Historical Development of Social Housing Policy
At the national dais, various social and economic concerns, such as the depression, affected the housing industry and made the Canadian government more involved in housing policy. The housing policies of Canada have solved three issues. These include helping the housing sector to put up enough homes to meet the demands of many Canadians, offering mortgage support for landowners and providing support to individuals whose housing demands may not be effectively accomplished via the private housing sector.
The newly established social programs also stimulated the private housing sector. For example, the Wartime Housing Corporation and the Crown corporation have offered mortgage capitation at a favourable interest rate that encouraged building limited-dividend houses and homeownership. By 1946, the housing units constructed by Wartime Housing Corporation were taken over by the Canadian government under Housing and Mortgage Corporation.
A major milestone in the Canadian social housing policy happened in 1954. During this time, the federal government agreed to indemnify mortgage loans given by private investors. The Bank legislation was also revised to enable the chartered banks of Canada to offer mortgage loans. Such initiatives allowed the federal government to lessen its involvement in loaning and be the insurer of mortgages and a financier of last resort (McAfee, 2015).
The establishment of homes for the lower income earners has been another influencing force in the development of social housing policy. The non-market housing units are managed and funded by non-profit and government co-operative societies to construct affordable housing. The Canadian social housing policy was first established in 1938 when the government began putting up affordable houses. The NHA was broadened in 1949 to comprise provincial-federal programs to support provincially managed and publicly owned housing for the disabled, seniors, and low-income families. Before the 1970s, government programs helped nearly a third of all housing starts. A big percentage of this of these were channelled to market housing (McAfee, 2015).
Description and Analysis
The social housing policy’s ideology is that poverty is associated with inequality, especially for the female gender (elderly women and lone mothers), people with disabilities, radicalized groups, and the aboriginal people. Therefore, practices and policies that disadvantage people who earn fewer salaries are disadvantaged people according to the social policy.
The second assumption is that people with economic and social status are extremely relevant to the housing situation. In many cases, it is assumed that it dictates the form of housing in place and the possibility that they will find the type of house they seek. Salary-related housing requirements, social assistance rates, low minimum wage, inadequate social housing supply, and high market rents make it difficult for people with a low economic and social status to keep and find quality housing (“Policy on human rights and rental housing,” 2009).
The next ideology is that tenants of low economic and social status are equally susceptible to differential treatments meted out by the housing providers. A few housing providers have bad attitudes toward poor individuals. They usually judge prospective renters based on stereotypes concerning poor people and poverty. They can subject unlawful rental criteria to this group of people, for example, security deposits. Some of them do offer insufficient housing-related amenities. At extreme levels, some providers may engage in harassing practices and then try to evict such tenants using a lot of force.
The social housing policy assumes housing is a human right. Both federal and provincial law stipulates that Canada must ensure that every citizen gets affordable and adequate housing. However, some citizens, based on factors like economic and social status, family status, sex, disability, ancestry and race, are not guaranteed the housing rights they are eligible to. When several forces intersect, the shortcoming intensifies, and people are at greater risk of homelessness, poverty and discrimination.
On marital status, it is assumed that the social housing policy safeguards both married and unmarried people equally against any form of discrimination. However, people involved in unmarried relationships make up a disadvantaged group. The unmarried cronies have usually suffered from social prejudice and disadvantage. Historically, unmarried cronies have been viewed as less worthy in Canadian society. The difficulties meted out by the unmarried cronies are social exclusion via the denial of benefits and status(“Policy on human rights and rental housing,” 2009).
On age, the social housing policy assumes that the policy forbids discrimination in housing based on age only for individuals aged 18 years and above. However, discrimination in renting housing has been manifested in several various ways. For instance, teenagers have been subjected to prejudiced perceptions based on age.
An Assessment of the Future Implication of current Policy Directions
I find government programs to boost housing affordability and supply very promising and exciting the social housing policy. For many years, the Canadian government has intervened in the housing sector to inspire the economy and to help people who need them. The core need was established by the Canada Housing Mortgage and the national housing agency of Canada to appropriately understand the demands of the people who need assistance. In Canada, nearly 14% of families are in dire need. The majority of the people are renters. Just a few people have permanent needs (Andrle, 2019).
The second thing I find very promising about this policy is supporting sustainable cities and housing quality. The housing sector is backed by an ongoing obligation from all government cadres to boost community standards and housing quality. The National Fire Code and the National Building Code boost encourage safety standards and uniform building in Canada. Local governments have been responsible and focal in enforcing quality and quantity housing standards and land-utilization planning that influence the type and location of housing.
The municipalities have played a critical role in the planning and provision of schools, parks, roads, sewer and water, and other public services. In rural or unincorporated areas, provincial governments or regional districts provide services and control land utilisation. Government practices have helped municipalities in boosting the state of housing. For example, in the 1960s, municipalities received funds for municipal infrastructure and urban renewal. The federal government has diverted funds into neighbourhood development programs and home insulation. The social housing policy should go in the direction of tackling housing affordability in Canada. The government should construct more houses (Andrle, 2019).
Canadian policymakers should resort to short-term fixes of housing provisions. They should relax prudential regulations to permit families to seek more, introduce or increase tax-deductibility of loan rates, and fund home buying directly. This is because the supply of housing is fixed in the short term. Therefore, a slight increase in the ability of the households to borrow shall boost the need for the house, intensifying the prices of housing and eventually making houses cheap than they would have been.
References
McAfee, A. (2015). Housing and Housing Policy. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/housing-and-housing-policy#:~:text=The%20objectives%20of%20Canadian%20housing,loans%20to%20developers%20or%20consumers. Retrieved 2023, from the Canadian encyclopedia
Administration of social housing. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/about-us/social-housing-information/administration-of-social-housing. (2018). Retrieved 2023, from mhc-schl
Policy on human rights and rental housing. https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/2491. (2009). Retrieved 2023, from our
Andrle, M. (2019). To Tackle Housing Affordability in Canada, Build More Houses. https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2019/10/02/blog-to-tackle-housing-affordability-in-canada-build-more-houses. Retrieved 2023, from imf.org
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