Today, the Minister of Northern Affairs, the Honourable Daniel Vandal, and Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories, highlighted Budget 2022 investments in housing.
April 13, 2022 — Yellowknife, Northwest Territories — Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
Today, the Minister of Northern Affairs, the Honourable Daniel Vandal, and Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories, highlighted Budget 2022 investments in housing.
Through Budget 2022: A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable, the Government of Canada makes targeted and responsible investments to create good jobs, grow our economy and build a Canada where nobody gets left behind.
Budget 2022 is investing in Canadians and making life more affordable. New investments in housing build on historic housing and infrastructure funding made in Budget 2021. Budget 2022 proposes $150 million over two years to support affordable housing and related infrastructure in the North. Of this amount, $60 million would be provided to the Government of the Northwest Territories. This flexible funding will allow partners to continue to advance their immediate and most pressing housing and infrastructure needs.
Access to safe and affordable housing is also critical to improving health and social outcomes and to ensuring a better future for Indigenous communities and children. Building on more than $2.7 billion to support housing in Indigenous communities since 2015, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $4.3 billion toward improving and expanding Indigenous housing in Canada.
Targeted infrastructure investments and distinctions-based funding represent another important step on the path of reconciliation between the government and Indigenous Peoples.
Budget 2022 takes significant steps that will help build more homes and make housing more affordable for Indigenous Peoples, regardless of where they live, which is why it further proposes to invest $300 million to co-develop and launch an Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.
Everyone should have a safe and affordable place to call home. Budget 2022 housing measures are the most ambitious plan that Canada has ever had to solve this fundamental problem, and these measures include critical investments to address the unique challenges faced by northern and Indigenous communities in accessing safe, adequate and affordable housing.
Through Budget 2022: A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable, the Government of Canada is making good on its commitments to continue to invest—year after year—in building more homes for a growing country, to help build strong and resilient northern and Indigenous communities and provide the homes that all Canadians need.