It was my pleasure to attend the Oceanside Non-Market Housing Task Force Forum, hosted by the Society of Organized Services (SOS) in Parksville on Friday. I very much appreciated the opportunity to listen to constituents, experts and local government representatives share information and ideas about the housing crisis in our communities. I took the occasion to emphasize the importance of collaboration between the private sector, municipalities and community organizations to get shovels in the ground. Since my first election as Member of Parliament for Courtenay-Alberni, more than $140 million in federal funding has been invested into the riding for housing and nationally a new $1.5 billion co-op housing building fund has just been created. Nowhere in the world has market housing alone solved an affordable housing crisis. Having grown up in co-op housing, I feel strongly about this model and continue to advocate for non-market housing that includes this model along with social, supportive and rent-geared-to-income housing. Non-market housing is common throughout Europe but has been in serious decline in Canada since cuts by successive Conservative and Liberal governments beginning in the nineties. It’s past time to restore funding and catch up with the rest of the world. I shared several local BC Models that have had enormous success, including the housing authorities in Cowichan, Tofino, and Whistler.
