Governments of Canada and Yukon Sign 10-Year Housing Agreement

Whitehorse, Yukon, March 14, 2019

Families, individuals and vulnerable Canadians in need of an affordable place to call home can count on long-term funding for community housing in Yukon thanks to an agreement signed today by the federal and territorial governments.

The Honourable Larry Bagnell, Member of Parliament for Yukon, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Honourable Pauline Frost, Minister Responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation, announced today they have reached a bilateral agreement under the National Housing Strategy (NHS). This cost-shared agreement demonstrates a joint commitment to prioritize affordable housing.

The 10-year agreement will invest nearly $60 million to protect, renew and expand social and community housing, and support Yukon’s priorities related to housing repair, construction, and affordability. The governments of Canada and Yukon will also work together to design and implement a new Canada Housing Benefit for the territory, to provide affordability support to families and individuals in housing need.

This is a progressive housing agreement that commits the governments of Canada and Yukon to high standards of transparency, public engagement, and housing quality, including improved energy efficiency and accessibility. The agreement also acknowledges the importance of prioritizing people most in need, incorporating a human rights-based approach to housing, and applying a gender lens to all investments.

Quotes:

"The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that every Canadian has a safe and affordable place to call home. Long-term, predictable funding for housing has been needed for more than a decade. Today, with the Yukon Government, we have taken a significant step toward our goal of building strong communities where Canadian families can prosper and thrive, now and for the future. Our Government will continue working in partnership with Yukon and other territories and provinces towards a 15% expansion in new affordable housing units and renewing 20% of existing community housing units across the country."
— Larry Bagnell, Member of Parliament for Yukon

"This is a significant funding agreement that will ensure we can provide Yukoners with safe, affordable and accessible homes that meet their needs. We are committed to working with our partners to tackle housing issues and provide Yukoners with adequate housing while respecting unique circumstances in each community in the territory."
— Pauline Frost, Minister Responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation

Quick facts:

The $59.92 million investment includes $41.96 million from the Government of Canada and $17.96 million from the Government of Yukon.
These investments are in addition to $28.5 million previously planned federal housing investments in Yukon through the Social Housing Agreement (SHA) over the next 10 years. In addition to new construction, combined investments under the NHS bilateral agreement and the SHA will target the preservation of at least 543 existing community housing units in Yukon.
In addition to the $59.92 million investment, a minimum of $40 million will be committed to build and repair community and affordable housing in Yukon through the $13.2 billion National Housing Co-Investment Fund,
The NHS is an ambitious 10-year, $40-billion plan that will reduce or eliminate 530,000 families from housing need across Canada, create 100,000 new housing units, as well as repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units and reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent.
The NHS is built on strong partnerships between the federal, provincial and territorial governments, and continuous engagement with others, including municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, and the social and private housing sectors. This includes consultations with Canadians from all walks of life, and people with lived experience of housing need.
All NHS investments delivered by the federal, provincial and territorial governments will respect the key principles of the NHS that support partnerships, people and communities.
Yukon will develop and publish three-year action plans, beginning in 2019-2020, setting targets and outlining how it will use federal and cost-matched funding to achieve the desired outcomes.
Since Budget 2016, the federal government has invested more than $24 million in housing in Yukon.

Associated links:

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

To find out more about the National Housing Strategy, visit www.placetocallhome.ca.

To find out more about the Yukon Housing Corporation, visit Yukon.ca.