Tie new affordable housing money to outcomes, former watchdog tells Liberals
OTTAWA — Parliament’s first budget watchdog is warning the federal government to be careful how it spends billions in new housing money over the next decade to ensure it actually makes a lasting impact.
In an analysis published today, former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says Ottawa currently doesn’t tie homelessness and housing funding to any outcomes, meaning the money flows whether the results are good or bad.
Page and two co-authors argue that when provinces, territories and municipalities have to report on how they spend federal money, they each use their own benchmarks and present them without any context.
The research from Page’s team at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy comes days ahead of the scheduled unveiling of the Liberals’ national housing strategy.