The Right to Housing Coalition has put forward a social housing action plan for Manitoba that pulls together solutions based on decades of research and consultation. The coalition is calling on all political parties in the 2023 provincial election to commit to implementing a social housing action plan that features the following five key pillars:
- Increase the social housing supply by 1,000 rent-geared-to-income units annually for at least 10 years.
- Protect existing social housing to ensure no loss of rent-geared-to-income units due to disrepair, lack of subsidies, or the sale of properties.
- Increase and stabilize funding to ensure all social housing tenants have access to comprehensive supports with a minimum ratio of 1 support worker per 100 units.
- Enhance security of tenure by limiting exemptions to rent regulations, limiting above-guideline rent increases, disallowing rent discounts, enhancing compensation for no-fault evictions, and ensuring evictions occur as a last resort.
- Support and partner with social enterprises to provide people facing barriers to employment with training and employment in the construction and maintenance of social housing.
The Manitoba government must use social housing as a tool to address the ongoing shortage of rental housing for low-income households as part of a comprehensive social housing action plan.
