New First Nations housing deal to see some cuts

First Nations outside of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba can expect a “significant” decrease in their housing subsidy once a new funding formula is negotiated between Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC), Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and the Assembly of the First Nations (AFN). , documents obtained by APTN News show.

“Use of updated census figures will result in regions receiving their proportional share of S.95 funding (of the federal government program),” said a CMHC memo to former Housing Minister Sean Fraser.

“This means that the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, where populations have increased, will receive a significant increase in funding, and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and the Atlantic region, where populations have decreased, will experience a significant decrease in funding. “

The CMHC is a federal agency responsible for, among other things, allocating money to First Nations for housing and renovations.

The formula it uses for housing is based on an agreement signed in 2005 with the AFN and the predecessor of the ISC – Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

It uses data from the 2001 census to help bureaucrats calculate a dollar figure for each First Nations’ housing needs.

But according to documents obtained under Canada’s Access to Information Act, the data has not been “updated since (its) introduction.” It also has not taken into account population changes in several Prairie First Nations, which should have received more money for housing during this period.

auditor general report

In March 2024, Auditor General Karen Hogan chided the federal government and CMHC for “falling hopelessly behind” in funding on-reserve First Nations housing.

Their report found that because CMHC relied on 2001 Census data, the effect of not updating the information “resulted in First Nations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba being significantly underfunded and therefore not receiving their equitable share of financing.”

Between 2008 and 2023, Alberta was underfunded by $141 million, Saskatchewan by $72.92 million and Manitoba by $60 million, according to the Attorney General’s report, for a total of $274 million.

Hogan reported that non-Prairie First Nations received “overfunding” from CMHC.

Atlantic Canada received overfunding of $15 million, Quebec $43.8 million, Ontario $141 million and British Columbia $76.8 million. It is unclear if these are the amounts each region will lose when the formula is renegotiated.

There is no mention of housing in the Yukon and Northwest Territories in the document.

The CMHC said it will not change the formula or agreement without input from the ISC and AFN because it “wanted to ensure the impact of the census update was well understood internally before proceeding,” the memo to Fraser’s office said.

The CMHC also said it “will not unilaterally change the formula, for the sake of reconciliation.”

“Adjusting the national allocation is not a simple exercise of updating census data in the formula; “It will be necessary to review, renegotiate and revise the entire formula in the agreement with our partners,” the documents said.

APTN asked both ISC and CMHC if negotiations were scheduled to update the 2005 agreement.

CMHC said it can confirm that it “raised this matter with AFN and ISC. “Work is underway to deliver on the public commitment that CMHC made in response to the Auditor General’s recommendation on this matter.”

The CMHC did not clarify whether meetings have been held since the auditor general’s report was released in March.

Kelsey Jocko, chief of Cold Lake First Nation in Alberta, which needs 300 homes, calls using old data “a big problem.”

“How can the government allow this to happen?” asked. “You know, it’s under his supervision. It’s totally wrong. I think we should be compensated. “That’s a lot of money.”

But according to the documents, compensation is unlikely.

“The amount of money is fixed regardless of how the census data is adjusted up or down, so a gain for one region would equal a loss for another,” said an email written by a policy analyst. “Without additional funding, CMHC’s ability to provide retroactive compensation to the underfunded region is extremely limited.”

In April, while on a stopover in Winnipeg, APTN News asked Trudeau if compensation was possible. He didn’t answer the question.

“We will continue to work with Indigenous communities across the country to meet enormous housing needs,” Trudeau said.

Two-year pilot project

According to a 2018 briefing note in CMHC documents, the agreement between the agency, INAC and AFN was signed after “extensive consultations” between the partners.

The agreement was supposed to be a two-year pilot project spanning 2005 to 2007.

The briefing note acknowledged that “neither the formula nor the data were ever updated despite new survey (Census) results being published in 2006, 2011 and, most recently, 2017.”

“This went largely unnoticed because over the years CMHC has increased and consistently funded reserve housing programs to give the perception that the allocation formula was changing. In reality, the proportional share each province received remained the same, and only the dollar amount had changed or increased overall.

“In the future, the availability of better data should be used to update the allocation model.”

In response to the AG’s report, the CMCH said it aims to have a new funding formula in place by the end of 2025. According to the documents, the new formula will not be available for practical use until spring 2026.

Housing needs in First Nations

In 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he told his Minister of Indigenous Servicesamong other things, “closing the infrastructure gap by 2030, with a focus on building sustainable and affordable housing” for First Nations was a priority.

With only five years left until that deadline, according to the auditor general, the government is nowhere near meeting that goal.

According to a report published by the AFNan organization that represents First Nations across the country at the federal level, First Nations need 157,453 new homes to address the current housing crisis at a cost of $135.1 billion.

The AFN said in the 2024 report that the housing situation is so dire that 68 per cent of people using shelters on the prairies are First Nations or Indigenous people.

David Monias, chief of Cross Lake First Nation in Manitoba, told APTN his community currently needs between 1,500 and 1,700 homes.

He said bureaucracy limits what his community can do in a timely manner and would like to see CMHC eliminated entirely and the money shared directly with communities.

“I know exactly who stays and where in my community. In what house? How many people stay there? How many children stay there? How many families stay (there),” Monías told APTN. “We have up to three families staying in one house and the houses are worn out. That has increased approximately 10 times. How many times do you open a door? How many times can that hinge protrude when it opens and the door?

“There are so many people there; On the floor of one of our houses you can see the ways people meet in the hallway. So many people living there and then the footprints in the hallway of people walking. “There is a lot of overpopulation.”

The federal government has invested $6.7 billion in Indigenous housing since 2015.

The documents suggest that while CMHC never changed the formula, it did raise “the issue several years ago” with its partners ISC and AFN.

“Despite the historic agreement, the ISC raised the importance of being consistent in our approach and use of census data. As recommended by the OAG (Office of the Auditor General), updated census data should be used. That being said, CMHC will require a robust and proactive work plan with (redacted).

Based on charts included in the documents, CMHC said an updated formula could mean a total of 308 households in the Prairies each year.