Before a protest on their front lawn, Liberals promised a housing plan — many, many times
2017 commitment for ‘comprehensive’ N.L. plan has yet to become reality
Sheltered, a CBC Investigates series, examines the housing crisis in Newfoundland and Labrador — telling the stories of the people living it, while scrutinizing the policies and politics behind it.
It was a solemn pledge made in Newfoundland and Labrador's throne speech, which lays out the government's goals and priorities for the coming legislative session.
"Our government understands that safe, stable and affordable housing is fundamental to the social and economic well-being of individuals, families and our communities," Lt.-Gov. Frank Fagan read to the House of Assembly from the prepared text of the speech in March 2017.
"We are committed to the development of a comprehensive provincial housing plan that addresses the diverse needs of our residents, paying particular attention to the housing needs and supports for the most vulnerable and those with distinct needs."
Now, more than 6½ years later, the province is gripped by a housing crisis that has resulted in some of those most vulnerable erecting a tent city across the street from the very legislative chamber where those words were spoken.
Liberal housing ministers have repeated that promise many times over the years — the plan was coming, always just down the road or just around the corner.
But it hasn't happened. The plan appears to have never been completed.
CBC News asked for an interview with the premier or minister responsible for housing about the status of the housing and homelessness plan, and timelines associated with its release.
Officials did not respond to those interview requests, and, in an emailed statement, did not directly address those questions.
Instead, the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation said housing "will be a pillar of the currently in-development social well-being plan that is expected to be released in the coming weeks and months."
Those words — or words like them — have often been used before, to describe the very plan the government is now sidestepping questions about.
And housing advocates say a line can be drawn between that lack of long-term planning and the current crisis.
"If this government cared at all about poor people and people that were experiencing homelessness in Newfoundland and Labrador, they'd have a plan to fix it," said Dan Meades, the Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial co-ordinator.
"You understand what government cares about because they implement plans and they do things. This government isn't without a focus. It just isn't the people of the province who need it the most. They're not focused on the vulnerable. They're not focused on the housing insecure. They're not focused on poor Newfoundlanders and Labradorians."
Meades said there doesn't seem to be any strategy at all — just "a series of one-off ad hoc adjustments" to market changes and "really, tragedies" in the community.
Those issues have recently come into sharper focus, he added.
"Instead of people sleeping in tents downtown the way they have been all summer, suddenly they're sleeping on Andrew Furey's front lawn," Meades said.
"And so I suspect there will be a strategy for that problem soon. But what we haven't seen is an overall housing strategy."
- Faces of a protest: St. John's camp enlists public support for housing campaign
- People are sleeping in tents across from Confederation Building. Here's why
He believes there is "low-hanging fruit" in terms of measures aimed at lifting people out of poverty — increasing income support, for example, and re-indexing it to inflation.
What grade would he give to the current government's handling of housing issues?
"They wouldn't get into med school with the grade I'd give them, that's for sure," he said.
"This government is failing at every account. It's an F, no matter how you choose to view it. And if you're not sure, walk down through the streets of St. John's, of downtown St. John's, and you'll see people that are struggling every single day."
'We need the government to act quickly'
Sharron Callahan, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Sector Pensioners Association and chair of the Seniors Coalition, says she sees the impact of the housing crisis — especially on seniors.
"It affects people when they are suddenly finding that their housing is compromised," she said in an interview.
"And by that I mean either they can't keep up with their housing payments or their rental payments, and they're forced to make a tough decision. And that tough decision could be that they have to leave that residence."
That becomes problematic when there aren't places for them to go, or alternate accommodations that cost less, and they are then finding themselves on the street.
"We need the government to act quickly," she said.
She pointed out that a national housing strategy was launched in 2017 and a bilateral agreement was reached with Newfoundland and Labrador soon after.
"And yet we still know now that the housing and homelessness plan for Newfoundland and Labrador is still in development," Callahan said.
"I just want to encourage the government to get on with it. People can't wait anymore. They've been waiting long enough."
Years of assurances plan was coming
The idea of a provincial housing strategy was in the Liberal red book when the party swept to power in late 2015. That policy document described it as "long-overdue."
The commitment to a "comprehensive provincial housing plan" ended up in throne speech a year and a half later.
The pending plan has surfaced repeatedly over the years, when housing issues came up in the legislature:
- On Dec. 5, 2017, in response to a question about the status of the proposed provincial housing strategy and plan, then-housing minister Lisa Dempster said "ending homelessness will be a key pillar in our plan once it comes out."
- A year later, on Nov. 22, 2018, Dempster told the legislature the plan would be released in 2019.
- Fast-forward to Nov. 6, 2019. More questions in the House, and Dempster again with the reply: "We're going to be releasing a provincial housing and homelessness plan."
- On June 6, 2021, a new minister, but a similar message: "One of the things that our agency will be doing, through the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, is to develop a housing and homelessness plan for the next couple of years," John Abbott said.
- Finally, April 4, 2023, Abbott again: "Stay tuned for the future. As part of our review of our housing and homelessness plan, they are the types of issues we're hearing as well and we'll incorporate that in our work in the years ahead."
In late August, Premier Andrew Furey also advised people to "stay tuned" for housing-related announcements this fall.
"As a province, we are certainly fully seized with it, and looking for different opportunities," Furey said at the time.
Last week, the premier told reporters that an announcement is coming soon on the housing strategy moving forward.
However, it doesn't appear that will be the comprehensive housing plan announced years ago.
When asked about what the premier's most recent comments mean, NLHC officials wrote, "Additional initiatives to make housing more affordable for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be shared in the coming weeks."
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