Ministry comes up short with new housing policy
Excerpts from the response to the new federal housing policy
by Assembly of First Nations Chief Ovide Mercredi
For 13 years, First Nations have waited for the federal government to develop a policy that deals with the crisis in on-reserve housing.
On July 25, the minister of Indian Affairs quietly announced the solution it took 13 years to make: if First Nations are to have better housing, they'll have to do it themselves.
The government said its "new approach to housing" emphasizes "community control, local resources and flexibility in design." For persons unfamiliar with bureaucratic language:
'Community control' means 'it's your problem.'
'Local resources' means 'fix it yourself.'
'Flexibility' means 'do it any way you can.'
We recognize there are those Canadians who feel such a policy is appropriate. Why should First Nations receive any special consideration regarding housing? The answer is that our housing problems are the result of a history in which our resources were taken from us to make another people wealthy and comfortable.
Had the treaties been honored, had our people been treated as partners, we would be able to provide for our own needs. Even today, we would gladly renounce any claim to 'special treatment' if we received the proper share of our resources and if we were not discriminated against in the labor market.
The federal government confesses that on-reserve housing is among the worst in Canada:
· half of all reserve homes are substandard - 5,275 homes are so bad they must be replaced;
· 8,000 households are overcrowded, often with each home occupied by two or more families;
Existing federal funding contributes toward construction of 3,600 homes a year, but there are 5,000 new on-reserve families forming each year. By the year 2005, over 40,000 First Nation families will be sharing homes.
Existing federal funding also contributes toward the renovation of 3,000 homes annually. At that rate, it will take 12 years to renovate existing substandard housing, by which time the houses being built now will be in substandard condition.
The federal housing subsidy remains at approximately the same level of funding as it was in 1984. The increase just announced by the federal government averages out to $334 annually for each First Nation household.
If we couple the housing deficiencies with deficiencies in community infrastructure, the true horror of the situation starts to emerge:
· 28 per cent of First Nation houses do not have either piped or well water.
· for those that do have community water systems, one system in every four poses serious health risks.
The minister of Indian Affairs recently announced the provision of an additional $98.5 million to an existing base of $125 million for water and sewer upgrades, but this additional amount is only intended to repair the worst of the systems that already exist, (about 20 per cent) and does not provide for new installations.
********** The government's "new approach" to housing is being financed with existing budgets. That means taking money from one pocket and putting it in another, pretending you are richer. Or worse, it's like taking money from someone else's pocket and giving it back to them, pretending it's a gift from you.
There is little fault which can be attached to most of the guidelines published by the government to assist in the development of First Nations Housing Proposals. They are likely to be very helpful to First Nations developing their comprehensive housing plans. Hidden in the guidelines, however, are the issues related to resources.
Canadians receiving social assistance, are provided with funds for housing, usually to cover the costs of rent. These funds are part of the social assistance budget contributed to by provincial and federal governments. First Nations are dealt with in a discriminatory and prejudicial manner, however. In the case of First Nations, "Shelter charges for social assistance dependent households will be offset from other DIAND funds. In most instances, this will be from the First Nation's housing capital budget."
That is like asking Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to use money budgeted to help improve Canada's housing stock to pay for social assistance shelter allowances. Such a policy means First Nations must choose between providing funds to allow existing housing to be maintained, or to use those funds for new housing to relieve desperately crowded and under-housed families.
Further, all proposals must be "cost neutral," meaning that whenever a First Nation's housing proposal requires additional funding to make it work, it will be "necessary for First Nations to leverage private sector resources to better meet their housing needs." In other words, debt financing. And for that, the guidelines tell us:
". . . the First Nation will need to ensure there are sufficient future revenues to cover loan repayment costs as well as on-going maintenance, insurance, administration, and renovation and construction equity."
If our situation today means we can't pay for decent housing, what expectation is there that the banks will believe that we could pay for it tomorrow? The only hope described in the guidelines is that this is a problem for which the National Aboriginal Financing Task Force is seeking solutions. In the meantime, decent housing will have to wait.
New housing policy causes First Nations furore
By Kenneth Williams
Windspeaker Correspondent
OTTAWA
The federal government has announced details of its new approach to on-reserve housing for First Nations in Canada.
The new policy is designed to protect and extend the life of existing houses while ensuring they meet national housing standards. In addition, the goal is to construct quality, affordable new housing and to link housing activities with job training, job creation and business development.
Funding for on-reserve housing will increase by $140 million over the next five years, with an increase of $60 million to the 1996-97 budget. This brings the total funding for housing to more than $352 million. This is to be shared between Indian Affairs ($222.5 million) and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ($129.8 million).
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations called the proposal a hoax. The federal policy and increase in funding is totally inadequate in dealing with the current housing crisis, said Ovide Mercredi in a document sent to news organizations across Canada. It translates to only $334 annually per house, said Mercredi.
"For 13 years, First Nations have waited for the federal government to develop a policy to deal with the urgent, massive crisis in housing. On July 25, 1996, the Minister of Indian Affairs quietly announced the solution it took 13 years to make: if First Nations are to have better housing, they'll have to do it themselves," wrote Mercredi.
Bill Namagoose, executive director of the Grand Council of Crees, criticized the policy and called it "a total disgrace."
"Native people have the worst living conditions in Canada, the richest country in the world."
Namagoose is dismayed that a startling number of Canadians believe that Native people enjoy a better standard of living than the rest of the people in Canada, as reported in a recent Insight Canada poll. He suspects that this misconception amounts to a public relations campaign by DIAND to down-play the reality of the housing crisis and other Native concerns.
There is, at the heart of the debate, a fundamental difference between the department's view of its responsibility for First Nations housing and the AFN view as to the government's responsibility for First Nation's housing.
Mercredi insists housing is a fundamental right of First Nation's people under the treaties. According to the department, the housing program was only intended as a construction and major renovation subsidy program that was to provide supplementary assistance to construction.
"The prevailing legal and social limitations have meant what was supposed to be only a subsidy has become the principal source of construction funding."
The new policy does not address the AFN's claim that on-reserve housing is a treaty right.
"There are other mechanisms to discuss and clarify that question," said DIAND spokesman, Ian Corbin. The minister has stated to the AFN and the First Nations' chiefs that this policy is not an answer to the question of the treaty right to housing.
"It shouldn't matter if it's a treaty right. It's a human right," said Namagoose. "It was federal policy that extinguished our lands and our resources - resources that could have generated revenues [to] provide housing."
The demand for on-reserve housing is continually increasing. Indian Affairs estimates there are 85,000 households living in only 76,000 homes. Within the next 10 years, it is estimated that there will be over 120,000 households requiring on-reserve housing.
To make matters worse, more than half of the current on-reserve houses are considered substandard. Substandard and overcrowded housing has been cited by the department as a major cause of health and social problems in the Aboriginal community.
"A key component of the new policy is multi-year planning. First Nations can link housing to other community assets and needs. For instance, housing, training and social assistance programs can be combined in a community-based project that uses social assistance-based training programs to renovate existing housing," said Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin.
"The result can be better housing, a better trained work-force and much needed employment. More flexible and long-term resources planning by First Nations will make more effective use of debt financing within their communities."
"There's no way you can address housing needs by changing administration structures," said Namagoose.
It is essential to have a decent home to develop pride and dignity, he continued, and "that is being denied Aboriginal people."