Canada's So-Called Homelessness Strategy | Dr. Nick Falvo
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