FEWO Committee Report

Conservative Supplementary Report: A Bridge to Stability - How Thoughtful Housing Policy Can Help Women and Children Fleeing Abuse

Introduction

Violence against women remains a public health crisis in Canada. Women and children fleeing domestic violence are extremely vulnerable and require individualized support from organizations in their communities. Unfortunately, the shelters and transition houses that provide critical services to help these individuals are facing significant challenges that must be addressed.

Many communities are dealing with serious disparities in funding or have to tackle unique difficulties that are not accounted for under the current system. The current state of the Canadian housing market, with high prices and low supply, puts these organizations at an even greater disadvantage as they try to help women and children move out of emergency care into stable, permanent housing. These issues need to be addressed in order to equip shelters with the capacity to empower those facing the horror of abuse.

Shelters in Rural and Remote Communities and in Indigenous Communities

At committee, Statistics Canada mentioned that approximately 300 women and 200 children were turned away from shelters in a single day. Many of these cases were due to the reality that shelters are often already operating at capacity.[1] Shelters in rural and remote communities, including those in the North and on First Nations reserves, face additional challenges in delivering their services. Lack of access to these shelters adds further difficulty for women and children trying to heal from their trauma.

We recognize that women in Indigenous communities frequently face high rates of violence, and that this need should be reflected in the levels of funding and services that are provided to their communities. These facilities face specific challenges including security and anonymity concerns. It is clear that the government must consult directly with bands and elders in order to create new ways of connecting the communities in the greatest need with the resources that they require.

We re-affirm the Committee Report’s Recommendation calling on the government to ensure that First Nations women and girls living on-reserve who are experiencing violence have access to comparable shelter services as women and children living off-reserve.

We also support federal assistance to Indigenous communities and other communities in rural and remote areas for job retraining programs, education and outreach.

Improving Gaps in the Housing Continuum

Conservatives understand that the housing market operates on a continuum with multiple stages. The continuum starts at emergency shelter housing for individuals (including women and children affected by violence) and extends through to market-rate rental housing and homeownership. Emergency shelters often serve as the first point of contact for people entering into this housing continuum and must be given the tools to enable women to move into more stable environments. We strongly believe that emergency shelters deliver essential services, but must be viewed as temporary means that help women move to reliable, sustainable, permanent housing. 

As wait times for housing grow, and as emergency shelters face further constraints, the need for safe, affordable housing becomes increasingly urgent. Unfortunately, the low supply and high prices of homes of the Canadian housing market has limited individuals’ ability to transition naturally through each stage of the housing continuum, especially in major urban centres such as Toronto and Vancouver.

While there are concerns at each stage of the continuum, one government policy that has created some concern is the application of a stress test to Canadians applying for mortgages. The Canadian Real Estate Association reported that the stress test would reduce buying power by roughly 18% for prime borrowers (i.e. homebuyers who have a 20% or more down payment).[2] A Fall 2017 report from the Mortgage Professionals of Canada estimated that between 2017 and 2019, about 200,000 families will have “significantly reduced their housing expectations in order to obtain financing, or [will be] entirely prevented from buying a home.”[3]

These measures have compressed regular market activity and constrained the upward mobility that Canadians could usually find in the housing continuum. It has reduced buying power and restricted the supply of housing and rental property that would otherwise be affordable for individuals with lower income - including women seeking to leave a shelter or a transition house. The failure to highlight this information in the Committee Report, despite testimony from several witnesses, will inevitably lead to blind spots in policy development, and will leave promising solutions to aid vulnerable women and children unexplored.

We understand that homeownership may seem like a distant reality for individuals who are living in the shelter system. However, by pushing homeownership further away through a combination of tax hikes and regulation, the Liberal Government has actually created a bottleneck in the natural housing continuum. Unfortunately, this means that those facing the challenge of finding housing after a traumatic experience have even fewer options as they seek to rebuild their lives.

Housing First

The previous Conservative government understood that permanent housing offers a powerful level of stability for vulnerable individuals. That is why, in the design of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS), we earmarked 65% of funding for projects using a Housing First approach. As outlined in the Committee’s Report, in addition to providing a permanent place to call home, Housing First also includes essential wraparound supports for vulnerable individuals.

Housing First is a proven, cost-effective way of permanently ending homelessness. The Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Homelessness commissioned by the current Liberal government specifically outlined the usefulness of a Housing First approach and stated that this model could make a dramatic difference in the lives of women and children fleeing violence.[4]  This government-commissioned Committee, composed of “housing and homelessness experts, local and regional service providers, as well as individuals with a lived experience of homelessness” concluded their official report by recommending that the government, “maintain the funding allocation and the current Housing First targets to enable communities to move to ending homelessness.”

Unfortunately, despite its own committee’s recommendation, the Liberal Government rejected those findings, and instead removed the Housing First funding targets, when it redesigned the HPS, which is now known as Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. [5] This decision ignores the way that the housing continuum works, and fails to recognize how strategic, well-timed assistance, can provide women and children fleeing violence with immediate access to a stable home, as well as appropriate supports and services that will help them rebuild their lives.

Conclusion and Recommendations

While the Conservative Members of the Committee appreciate the content of the committee’s report, and concur with the majority of its findings, we believe that several components of witness testimony have been omitted. Our supplementary recommendations build on the principles outlined in this supplementary report and are focused on balancing a compassionate and determined effort to address the tragedy of gender-based violence and to empower women without creating government policies that introduce new barriers for women seeking shelter following a traumatic experience.

Appendix I:  Recommendations

• That the Government of Canada work with community organizations to take substantive action on the recommendations made in the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women’s report entitled Taking Action to End Violence Against Young Women and Girls in Canada regarding the implementation of culturally sensitive, locally informed and community-oriented awareness campaigns and education programs for various groups, including young people, men and boys, and those living in Indigenous and northern communities.
• That the Government of Canada address the lack of supply of affordable housing, transition houses, and community housing by eliminating government policies that restrict the supply of housing, and that produce barriers that prevent women from accessing those supports. This could be facilitated by introducing an annual report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation on the total cost of taxes, fees, permits, delays and red tape per unit of housing in each major market across Canada, and an evaluation of the impact that mortgage stress-tests have on women who are seeking to enter the market after a traumatic event.
• That the Government of Canada conduct a Gender-Based Analysis Plus on the Housing First approach and on their decision to remove all funding targets for Housing First Programs under Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.
• That the Government of Canada provide funding to organizations to create and implement a business model by which revenue is generated in a sustainable manner to help cover the cost of affordable housing or shelter space.

Appendix II: Expert Testimony in Support of Recommendations

Martina Jileckova (CEO, Horizon Housing Society): “The lack of access to supported affordable housing is, for women fleeing violence, double-barrelled. Women leaving a violent partner often face a reduction in income, and we see that when they come to stay with us. Then, the lack of access to affordable housing can force them into homelessness. Once they are there, the lack of housing options keeps them in homelessness. Our partners, Discovery House and others, tell us that the average second-stage shelter stay for a woman and her children is nine months in Calgary. It's not necessarily because they need to be in the shelter for nine months but because there is a lack of affordable housing for these women to move into.” (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1635)

Martina Jileckova (CEO, Horizon Housing Society): “It's interesting, because I agree that we need emergency shelters and second-stage shelters for a very limited short period of time. What our partner agencies are telling us is that, once that immediate need is addressed, a woman with children is very successfully housed in community housing with supports. We no longer view the transitional second-stage housing as a progression, that thou shalt spend six months there because you are going through a program. What we are finding really works in Calgary is that, once the immediate shelter need is addressed, moving women as soon as possible into community-based housing that's affordable with the supports still available is the most successful model.” (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1725 (Martina Jileckova, Chief Executive Officer, Horizon Housing Society).

Martina Jileckova (CEO, Horizon Housing Society): “We spoke about indigenous women, and they need cultural reconnections. We will move women into our housing, but they need that cultural reconnection that comes from social supports. Those are the types of supports that need to be funded” (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1725).

Jeff Morrison (Executive Director, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association): “Shelters and transitional housing are important, but they are and should be temporary. They are interim solutions for survivors of domestic violence. The next step for women is to find, secure and maintain safe and affordable housing. However, this gap between need and supply is exacerbated by long wait-lists for social and non-profit housing, particularly for families with children, which far outpaces the availability of units. As an example, in Montreal, there are currently over 25,000 individuals on the wait-list. In Toronto, the wait-list is well over 82,000. We anticipate that these numbers are very conservative. The real demand we believe is much, much higher.” (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1640)

Jeff Morrison (Executive Director, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association): As we discussed, shelters are important and they play a role, but they are a band-aid. Shelters, especially for women fleeing violence, should not be seen as a solution. They should be seen as a step along the way. In terms of providing shelter for women fleeing violence, I would hope this committee would really focus on how we provide that ongoing access to safe affordable housing in the long term. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1655).

Arlene Hache (Community Advocate, Appeared as an individual) - For me, the housing first model has all of the elements it needs. I think it's the application of cultural differences or cultural tools, trauma-informed practice, and it's just to round out the practice better… A lot of women who face violent situations have lived on their own, can live on their own. Just because they end up in a shelter doesn't mean that they can't be supported in their own home or different homes.” (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 22 October 2018, 1605)

Tim Richter (President and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness) – Long-term solutions, in my view, will be found by involving women with lived experience of domestic violence at every stage of the policy process. In the homelessness world, we've applied rights-based approaches like “housing first” with significant success. Housing first empowers people experiencing homelessness with agency, voice and choice. By doing that, we achieve far better long-term outcomes then ever before. By listening carefully to them and reflecting their input and needs in our systems and programs, we design more effective systems and programs to serve them. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 17 October 2018, 1530)

Tim Richter (President and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness) - Providing permanent, safe, decent and affordable housing is a critical step in achieving better outcomes for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Positive outcomes are a result of wraparound support that helps women build self-reliance and heal from their trauma. We’re seeing that interventions borrowed from the homeless system, like housing first, achieve significant success for women and children fleeing violence when the model is adapted to their unique and specific needs. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 17 October 2018, 1535)

Tim Richter (President and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness) - There's a lot to unpack here, but we have to look at the flow of people into the domestic violence system, what happens to them while they're there, and the movement of people out. I think you cannot separate housing stability and the support services that they need to address their trauma, make sure their kids are well, deal with their safety, help them address their mental illness, and help them address addiction concerns. I think that wraparound support in housing is very critical, ultimately, to their success. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 17 October 2018, 1600)

Catherine Scot ( Director General, Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development): While the Housing First approach was initially tested among homeless individuals who are single and living with mental health and/or addiction issues, the approach has been used successfully with a variety of demographic groups, including women and families. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 15 October 2018, 1535)

Violet Hayes, Executive Director, Island Crisis Care Society -  Yes, the mention of the tax break for landlords might help. I know, as the value of the houses are going up, to find a house now for $500,000, that's a fairly basic house now in Nanaimo. If landlords are having to pay a mortgage on the place and their taxes keep going up, they put the rent up as much as they can. We just had the latest announcement for how much the rent could go up next year, and it was 4.5%. That's a big jump[…]. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 31 October 2018, 1750)

Marilyn Ruttan (Appeared as an Individual): I quickly messaged back to state that single women are not coming through our doors anymore to buy homes especially since last January, when the new mortgage stress test was introduced. It is difficult enough for a two-income family to qualify, let alone a single woman or a single woman trying to get back on her feet after having been in a stage one shelter or a stage two shelter situation. Women can't buy a home without first qualifying for a mortgage, and the big banks are not at all accommodating or welcoming. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 29 October 2018, 1640) 

Donna Mullen(Appeared as an Individual): Right now, when you apply for a mortgage to buy a home, the rules have never been so stringent and inconsistent from lender to lender. I started working in the banks in 1982, when rates were 20%, so I've been through every crash. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 29 October 2018, 1650) 

Donna Mullen (Appeared as an Individual): What's happening is that we have so many on short-term disability that these casual workers who are hired are working 40 hours a week all year long because you have people on eight-week vacations or on short-term disability. Guess what? Those women can't buy a house. They have to be there for two years to show an average income before they can qualify for a mortgage.

    My first recommendation, knowing those industries, is that for six months of continuous work at 40 hours a week you can get a mortgage and buy under the $500,000 mark with no stress test. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 29 October 2018, 1715)

Donna Mullen (Appeared as an Individual): -  If we want them to be successful, we have to empower them so they can pay their own bills. That is the biggest empowerment for any woman today. She wants to pay her way, buy her own food, be able to provide for her children. That will give the woman the biggest sense of security that she can have in this world today.

    If the rents are similar to what the mortgage payment would be, what better way to empower a woman if she doesn't have to fear moving every other year because a landlord wants to sell? She could do well with the profit, given the way that real estate has appreciated. We're looking to give that security. Policies in place right now are so interconflicted that women are shaking their heads, asking what to do.

    As for building more units, yes, we definitely need more first-stage transitional spaces. We could never build enough for the need out there today. We have to start building programs that interconnect and move women out of the transition two status, programs that give them security in their own homes. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 29 October 2018, 1740)

Jacquie Bushell (Residential Mortgage Specialist, Appeared as an individual) referring to a conversation with a colleague:  She said that since the B20 rules, the qualifying standards in lending policies for most of the major financial institutes, or A-type lenders, have been removed, along with the ability to use the child tax credit and non-taxable spousal or child support. Therefore, very few lenders, and only a couple, ICICI and Manulife, will allow a variation of this type of income to qualify. The choice of lenders has dramatically been reduced since the introduction of B20, removing options and competition. Lenders are required to prove affordability with provable income or income that is allowable under their guidelines. Most of the major lenders removed the child tax credit as they felt it was not sustainable over the long term and, therefore, could not be used to mitigate affordability. When the child tax credit or the spousal support is used, it is often cut back to 20% to 40%, depending on the lender policy and the age of the children. As you can guess, this hampers the applicants in their ability to qualify when a large portion of their income includes spousal support, child support and child tax benefit.

    She said that the bottom line is that the options for the lenders that allow these types of incomes to be used is greatly reduced since the change. This, in turn, gives the consumer fewer lending options and terms, and they typically receive higher interest rates for use of these programs. Not only can they not use income that helps them move on in their new life, but they are also penalized for this by getting a higher interest rate. The new rules do not allow for character-based lending, common-sense lending, or cash flow based on real income figures.

  While her association would like to give more insight into the desperate shelter issue, they have to consider the government's stress test. It indeed stresses this particular group of applicants far more than others. It stresses quite a few of those you are studying: the women who want to move on from awful conditions, but are limited by regulations. Their members and their clients clearly tell them these rules have made it harder for the Canadians for whom this committee is seeking to find the freedom and independence that they need and deserve. (FEWO, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 17 October 2018, 1545)