Canada’s housing crisis is worsening, with housing need and homelessness numbers rising despite government aspirations to reduce them. In this episode of Policy Crimes, Tristan Markle speaks with Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, Senior Researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, about two major reports on addressing housing need, which she released in tandem last week.

The first, for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, sets out human-rights-based housing targets tied to what low-income households can actually afford. The second, for the Maytree Foundation, outlines a Build Canada Homes proposal to finance and deliver housing at scale. Together, they make the case for building 500,000 homes a year, including 200,000 non-market units, half for very-low-income households most at risk of homelessness.

Whitzman proposes treating housing as infrastructure, with about 2% of GDP ($40B annually) invested to create lasting public assets that address housing need. Drawing lessons from Finland, France, Austria, and Singapore, she discusses how Canada could end homelessness in a generation.

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Guest: Dr. Carolyn Whitzman is a leading Canadian housing and social policy researcher, and Senior Housing Researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. She has shaped federal housing policy through work with the federal Expert Panel on the Homebuilding Industry and UBC’s Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) project. Carolyn is the author of six books, including Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis.

Topics Covered:

• National Housing Strategy gaps — why affordability targets weren’t tied to income and why major programs missed low-income households.
• Human-rights-based targets — setting goals by income quintiles and using UBC’s HART tools for consistent measurement.
• Scaling housing supply — building 500,000 homes annually, including 200,000 non-market units, half of which for very-low-income households.
• Financing solutions — the Build Canada Homes proposal, investing 2% of GDP ($40B/year) in housing as infrastructure.
• Global lessons — how countries like Finland, France, Austria, and Singapore addressed housing need and reduced homelessness with sustained public investment.

Studies referenced:

• Scaling up affordable housing through a ‘Build Canada Homes’ proposal — Maytree Foundation (September 2025)
• Human Rights-Based Housing Targets and Mechanisms for Canada — Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (September 2025)
• A Human Rights-Based Calculation of Canada’s Housing Supply Shortages — Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (November 2023)
• Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis — UBC Press (October 2024)

Production:

• Producers: Tristan Markle, Lina Moskaleva, and CJ Tremblay
• Sound and original music: Matthew Hayter, matthewhaytermusic.com
• This podcast is a project of The Publication Cooperative
• If you have thoughts, feedback, or ideas, you can email us at policycrimes@thepublication.ca

Canada’s National Housing Strategy was launched in 2017 with bold promises, including cutting chronic homelessness and core housing need by 50%. But eight years later, the opposite has occurred – with increases of about 50%. So what went wrong?

Dr. Nick Falvo walks us through why the strategy didn’t meet these aspirational goals, and he imagines with us what we could have done, and could still to, make a real dent in homelessness in Canada.

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Guest: Nick Falvo spent 10 years working on the frontlines, then received his PhD in public policy from Carlton University where he developed and taught one of Canada’s only university-level courses on affordable housing and homelessness. Nick also worked with the Calgary Homeless Foundation as Director of Research and Data, and with the International Journal on Homelessness as Editor-in-Chief, North America.

Topics Covered:

• Mismatch between the goals and programs of Canada's National Housing Strategy
• What programs and levels of funding are really required to address homelessness
• The role of community housing in counter-balancing explosive growth in real estate prices
• The role of demand-side approaches like income assistance and housing benefits
• Pillars of a credible national housing strategy
• Innovative practices in the housing and homelessness sectors

Articles referenced:

• The Liberal Housing Plan (2025)
• Canada: Ten things to know about the federal role in housing policy (2022)
• Ten things to know about Canada’s newly-unveiled National Housing Strategy (2017)

Studies referenced:

• Comparative municipal spending on housing and homelessness in Canada’s major cities (2024)
• Analyzing shelter utilization in different Canadian provinces: Exploring economic and social factors (2023)
• The co-op difference: Comparing co-op and market rents in five Canadian cities (2022)
• Introduction to homelessness in high-income countries: An open access e-textbook (2022)

Production:

• Producers: Tristan Markle, Lina Moskaleva, and CJ Tremblay
• Sound and original music: Matthew Hayter, matthewhaytermusic.com
• This podcast is a project of The Publication Cooperative
• If you have thoughts, feedback, or ideas, email us at policycrimes@thepublication.ca

In our first three episodes on the Cost of Homelessness, we explored how housing the homeless can often cost less than leaving them in the emergency system. But that's not always the case for every person, program, or place. And saving money isn't the main goal—ending homelessness is about improving lives.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Eric Latimer, Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University and lead economist on Canada’s landmark At Home / Chez Soi Housing First study. He helps us look carefully at the evidence: Housing First dramatically improved housing stability and life outcomes, and over 50% of the program's cost was offset by reductions in emergency service use.

While in this study Housing First didn’t fully "pay for itself", we discuss some fascinating reasons for that, and we explore why we shouldn't always expect cost-neutrality for programs that successfully reduce homelessness.

Get extras and support the show: https://thepublicationcoop.substack.com

Guest: Dr. Eric Latimer is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and Research Scientist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. He was lead investigator for the Montreal site of the At Home / Chez So research and demonstration study on homelessness and mental illness and was its lead economist nationally.

Topics Covered:

• The results of Canada’s At Home / Chez Soi study, the largest Housing First trial ever conducted
• How most of the program's cost was offset, and why it didn't quite “pay for itself”, at least in the short term
• Key reasons for variation across "cost of homelessness" studies: connecting people to health care and income supports, inclusion of low- or moderate-need participants, and “regression to the mean”
• Comparisons with U.S., French, and Finnish studies and programs
• Why cost savings aren’t the real goal—ending homelessness is about dignity, health, and equity

Studies referenced:

• Effect of Scattered-Site Housing Using Rent Supplements and Intensive Case Management on Housing Stability Among Homeless Adults With Mental Illness: A Randomized Trial (2015)
• Housing First Impact on Costs and Associated Cost Offsets: A Review of the Literature (2015)
• Costs of services for homeless people with mental illness in 5 Canadian cities: a large prospective follow-up study (2017)
• Cost-effectiveness of Housing First Intervention With Intensive Case Management Compared With Treatment as Usual for Homeless Adults With Mental Illness Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial (2019)
• Cost-Effectiveness of Housing First With Assertive Community Treatment: Results From the Canadian At Home/Chez Soi Trial (2020)
• A Tale of Two Countries: A Comparison of Multi-Site Randomised Controlled Trials of Pathways Housing First Conducted in Canada and France (2021)

Production:

• Producers: Tristan Markle, Lina Moskaleva, and CJ Tremblay
• Sound and original music: Matthew Hayter, matthewhaytermusic.com
• This podcast is a project of The Publication Cooperative
• If you have thoughts, feedback, or ideas, email us at policycrimes@thepublication.ca