8 / Canadian Government Executive // January/February 2022 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Strategy (NHS) signaled “a meaningful reengagement by the federal government in housing. It is a key element of our Government’s plan to help strengthen the middle class, promote growth for everyone, and lift more Canadians out of poverty” (National Housing Strategy, 2017). The NHS has been billed as the ‘first ever’ such strategy. With this strategy the federal government is creating legislation that will be a human-rights based approach to housing to ensure all Canadians can access safe housing within their means. The initiative outlines several clear targets and deliverables that cover areas such as community housing, housing benefits, support for provinces, cooperation with municipalities and non-profit groups, and (as always) improving home ownership (NHS, 2017). While the NHS has made it clear that the federal government is re-embracing a role in housing, the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need to address the issue of Canadians experiencing homelessness. With stay-at-home orders, curfews and the closing of public parks to contain the spread of the virus, the need to create housing became very immediate. In response, the federal government launched the 2020 Rapid Housing initiative as the newest program to come out of the NHS. With this initiative, the Canadian government offered money (through an application process) to governments, both municipal and provincial, non-profit and Indigenous organizations to create affordable housing through conversion of existing structures or through modular home construction. The housing is to be made available within 12 months of receiving the funds (CMHC, 2020). As well as being a response to the pandemic, this program corresponds to the priorities of various groups like the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CMHC, 2020). So after being in and out of the policy housing arena, the current government is back in and promoting a new era of cooperation with other levels of government and organizations. Municipal Issue—Short Term Rentals A growing policy challenge for municipal governments is short term rentals (STRs), such as those provided by Airbnb and VRBO. While the COVID-19 pandemic has eased this pressure in the short term, it will continue to be an issue that affects housing. As demand for STRs for tourists and visitors increases, it can lead landlords and investors to either evict long-term tenants in order to gain more revenue or to convert properties into apartments specifically for STRs rather than long term rentals. The effect of STRs on housing prices is still not clear, and there is not enough data to unequivocally link them to increased prices. Studies in different cities have produced conflicting results about property values (Di Natale, 2018). However, there is anecdotal belief for this cause and effect and for the idea that STRs lead to reduced rentals (Zou, 2019). One small city has studied the effects of STRs on the long term rental market. As a tourism destination, STRs represent a growing market in PEI. Landlords, primary householders and those with second homes can gain revenue from renting out space to tourists. This trend is growing against the background of an extreme housing shortage in PEI with residential vacancy rates as low as 1.2% in the capital city of Charlottetown (Neatby, 2021). A commissioned report on STRs in Charlottetown analyzed listings on Airbnb and Homeaway and came up with estimates of the effect on the local rental market. The report found the following as a snapshot of the STR situation on September 1, 2019—135 housing units in Charlottetown were dedicated STRs and 111 of these were entire home listings while 24 were private room listings in the same housing unit. Additional findings from this report include a 9% increase in STRs from the previous year and that 318 housing units were converted to full-time STRs between 2017-19. Additionally, in the 3 years leading up to the study, STRs lost from the housing market had grown faster than the entire STR market (Wachsmuth, 2019). INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION & CONFLICT The main area of contention between governments in housing policy is jurisdiction. While encouraging home ownership is almost fully in the federal sphere, the provision of social housing is not. The federal government has fallen in and out of both provision and funding with the provinces occasionally involved and municipalities bearing a large burden. In the early post-war years, housing was provided mainly by municipal governments with federal assistance. While municipal governments have been hampered by provincial control of their actions and limited revenue generating capacity, there has been a long history of federal-municipal cooperation in funding housing. While provinces might not appreciate being by-passed, it would be impolitic for them to block municipal access to funds. From 1944-1964 the federal government provided funds to cities under the National Housing Act. In 1964, the provinces created housing authorities so they could be involved and disburse the federal money to municipalities. The federal
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