Homeless forgotten in federal election platforms, say advocates

While the federal parties have been campaigning on promises to build more homes in Canada, advocates say those most in need of those homes have been left out of the conversation.

"I see a lot of … hopelessness around finding a stable housing space," said Nivethine Mahendran, co-chair of the Youth Leadership and Advisory Council (YLAC) with Choices for Youth, an organization that works with homeless youth. 

Both the Liberal and Conservative parties have promised to build more homes and eliminate the GST for first-time home buyers.

But buying a home isn't an option homeless youth even consider according to Mahendran.

She says the concerns that she's hearing when she speaks with homeless youth are not being addressed in the election platforms. She says they're looking for more affordable rental options, rent control, and increased funding to non-profits to expand housing initiatives

They would also like to see more single-occupancy housing options and other income support programs boosted, she said. 

"That money hasn't changed over the last couple of years, whereas rental prices have just skyrocketed," said Mahendran.

And housing is a crucial part in dealing with other life issues.

 "Whether it's addictions or they're escaping domestic intimate partner violence," she said. "You need a stable space in order to make some kind of progress on the other issues you're handling."

Homelessness not addressed

The executive director of End Homelessness St. John's, Doug Pawson, says homeless individuals have strong interest in the federal election, and are watching for promises to improve housing. 

But he says homelessness isn't well addressed in any of the party platforms.

"There's not really any mention of homelessness programming and investments in any of the platforms," said Pawson.

Pawson said he would like to see promises to create more affordable rentals, more social housing, and incentives for landlords to boost supply. 

While Pawson says he is happy to see a commitment to housing development, the housing strategy needs to be more robust.

"Building our way out of the crisis is only helpful for … more or less 1 segment of the population, not so much the vulnerable segment," said Pawson.

Pawson said he would like to see commitments made by the parties to support Canada's current homelessness strategies, including the National Housing Strategy, and Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy. 

Pawson said the government's current target is to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent, but noted that last year the parliamentary budget office reported that they would need to increase funding sevenfold to reach that target. 

"It's a bit disappointing not to see any acknowledgement of how important housing and homelessness in those two [strategies]" said Pawson.

Barriers to voting

Pawson and Mahendran say that they have seen an interest from homeless individuals in voting, but barriers to voting often means that demographic isn't well represented in electoral decisions. 

"Not everybody will have a current ID that shows an address or they may not have an address," said Pawson. "Voting, it can be probably a bit of a luxury for folks who are just struggling to survive day-to-day"

He said homeless people might need someone to go with them to polling stations to vouch for them and verify their identity. Residents of transitional housing facility, Horizons at 106, will also receive a letter of confirmation of residence that they can also use. 

Transportation to polls is another barrier, said Pawson adding that End Homelessness will be providing transportation to polls for some individuals. 

At Choices for Youth, Mahendran says they try to empower homeless youth to go out and vote because participating in democracy often feels impossible for them.

"They feel like it's a space outside of what they're experiencing," she said. "They don't feel like they can connect with the candidates."

Mahendran says she encourages youth to support each other to vote.

"And then also having them go into the community and say here, this is how you can kind of engage productively with civic engagement and democracy," she said. 

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