Canadians have become increasingly familiar with the term “housing crisis” in recent years. Defined by a shortage of units and rising mortgage and rental costs, many people are being priced out of home ownership or even safe, adequate rental housing. The impact cuts across demographics — young adults, newcomers, low-income families and even middle-class earners are all feeling the strain.
Carla Shipley is executive director of Unity Non-Profit Housing Corporation Ottawa, which owns and operates two subsidized housing properties — one in Hintonburg and the other in Vanier. The organization offers both below-market rent (BMR) and rent-geared-to-income (RGI) agreements.
But Shipley says the crisis goes beyond simply building more homes. She points to a complex and fragmented funding system involving all three levels of government.
“A lot of the programs require you to get funding from multiple sources,” she said “You get a little bit here, a little bit there. When we look for an influx of a loan or grant funding, it requires an output of cash from us because the accessibility, energy efficiency, engineer’s reports for those things, we have to fund. For small housing providers, the reality is that there are very few that can actually take on [building large scale projects].”
On top of cobbling together funding to maintain and improve buildings, Shipley talks about the importance of providing supportive housing services for the communities. Many subsidized housing applicants are dealing with addiction and mental health issues, or are refugees fleeing war, violence or persecution. Support and settlement services need to cover a wide range of fundamentals, including language instruction, mental health support, addictions counseling and employment resources.
Unity’s flagship property, built in the early 1990s in what was then Mechanicsville, welcomed many Somali refugees fleeing that country’s civil war. The building was created in partnership with the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, which still operates on site.
“They [OCISC] were there to offer support for new immigrants and refugees, and we were the housing piece,” says Shipley. “The idea was to provide affordable housing for immigrants and refugees in a multicultural community, so we have one, two, three and five bedroom apartments for multi-generational families.”
Ottawa Community Housing, another local subsidized housing organization closely affiliated with the City of Ottawa, offers similar support and housing options – but on a larger scale.
“We’re basically running a small city,” said Cliff Youdale, OCH’s chief development officer. “We have over 32,000 tenants, about 15,500 homes, and we provide a wide range of affordability — but primarily deep affordability in our stock. It’s certainly people that are in deep need that benefit.”
While OCH is currently the largest subsidized housing organization in Ottawa, that wasn’t the case a decade ago.
“It was a fairly static number of units for many years, and that was just a byproduct of where the governments were at the time,” said Youdale. “That stock may have served its purposes back in the ’80s and ’90s but we needed to grow and increase that portfolio. Over the last couple of years, we’ve had about 1,000 units in construction, and we have about another 1,000 ready to be built.”
Unlike smaller non-profits, OCH has been able to access funding through Infrastructure Ontario’s mortgage loan model and through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
“There’s some grant funding that goes into it, but the majority of the value of the building is in a mortgage paid by the people living there through their rent,” said Youdale. “We carry mortgages, and CMHC provides us preferential rates for longer amortization periods to make it more affordable.”
The federal government is expected to make new announcements on housing during the fall session of Parliament, including investments in both new construction and wraparound services.
“There’s a new program coming out with Build Canada that will be announced in the fall,” said Youdale. “So we’re looking to see what that looks like from the feds. And that will dictate how we build in the future.”
While keeping an eye on upcoming federal funding strategies, Shipley isn’t counting entirely on federal funds to provide the full support needed. In recent months, Unity has been in talks with two local organizations that can provide wraparound services for tenants in crisis and immediate need.
“There is a high level of interest because they’re not necessarily looking for properties to manage — they’re looking for units for their clients,” she said. “As a housing provider, we’re already built and have the structure in place for the landlord piece, and then they can place tenants. It’s a shared services model — they’re doing the supportive piece and we’re doing the housing piece.”
Shipley also expressed frustration with the government’s funding approach, which often involves a one-and-done mentality due to staffing constraints.
“Supportive housing services are the only way that you’re actually going to retain tenancy. The National Housing Strategy says it’s going to eliminate homelessness by 2030 — I don’t know how they’re going to do that.
“The individuals we house from the homeless sector get housed by their worker. Then once they’re settled, the worker goes off to deal with housing the next individual because there’s not enough staff.
“The tenant who has come in needs someone to make sure they pay their rent, help with budgeting, potentially assist them in applying for a job, or maybe they need addiction services. They have complex needs requiring multiple supports. They get housed and then dropped, and they’re in an eviction situation almost right away. If you don’t have the supportive housing piece to make sure they retain their housing, they’re going to go back out the door.”
One of OCH’s largest developments under construction — Gladstone Village — may offer an effective model for breaking these cycles. Located at the intersection of Rochester and Gladstone, the project will include just over 2,000 units once completed, developed in partnership with the City of Ottawa.
“It’s going to be phenomenal,” said Youdale. “There’s going to be parkland, a rec facility, and we’re looking at a youth facility and seniors’ programming on the ground floor. So when it’s all done, it’s going to be a cohesive community — not just throwing up some buildings.”
“We work very hard to support our tenants, to find them the resources — and if we don’t already have partnerships, to create them — to help retain their housing,” says Shipley. “We want to be able to offer more direct support and have shared service models that will benefit not just individuals but whole communities.”