The housing minister said 750 new homes have been built in 2 years. It's less ... much less
Government has cited creation of new ‘housing options’ in defending record
Sheltered, a CBC Investigates series, examines the housing crisis in Newfoundland and Labrador — telling the stories of the people living it, while scrutinizing the policies and politics behind it.
When Social Development Minister Paul Pike unveiled seven newly completed public housing units at a news conference in Gander two weeks ago, he expounded on the government's recent achievements in helping give people places to live in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"In the last two years we've built 750 new homes in this province," Pike told CBC News in an interview at the time.
"In the last two years, we've done 750 homes. We're on target to build another 850 homes within the next year or so. And you know there's a lot of good things going on in the province."
So where are those new homes?
"They're right across the province, in every community we've been building these homes, and the 750 mark is something that we were striving to get to. And now that's within the last two years, OK? And you know, we focused on certain areas, but basically right across the province."
It was an incredible claim — and incredibly wrong.
That number — 750 — has been used by political leaders in the province for months, although usually couched in more carefully curated language.
'Options,' not houses
In March, Premier Andrew Furey referenced "over 750 new housing options advanced in the last couple of years."
In April, Pike's predecessor in the housing portfolio, John Abbott, made this statement to the legislature: "Our government has prioritized the creation of new housing options, with more than 750 new housing options constructed or under construction or subsidized over the past two years."
On Monday, as the House of Assembly reopened, the premier repeatedly leaned on the 750 figure when questioned about his nascent five-point plan to address housing affordability issues:
- "More than 750 new public housing options have been advanced over the last two years."
- "There's 750 units being built now."
- "We introduced 750 new units that are currently being built."
So how many of those 750 "housing options," dating back to 2021, are new government-owned social housing units that are currently ready to be lived in, like those unveiled in central Newfoundland earlier this month?
The answer is 11.
The six in Gander and one in Peterview that were the subject of Pike's recent press conference.
Four in Happy Valley-Goose Bay completed this summer.
And that's it.
Eight more units in the Pleasantville area of St. John's are nearing completion, according to the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.
And the NLHC told CBC News this week that another 72 units in Pleasantville are "under development."
'Under development'
Those "under development" units appear linked to a pair of announcements from last year, although the housing corporation did not confirm that before deadline.
The first was noted at a press conference 18 months ago, and is for a 32-unit social housing complex.
According to city planning documents, that project would see four two-storey apartment buildings constructed, with eight units in each, on the site of the old Janeway hospital.
The second, announced nearly a year ago, is for a 40-unit affordable housing complex on the corner of Charter Avenue and St. John's Place.
But at this point, both of those sites are fallow fields sprouted with long grass. There are no signs of construction near either.
Another 16-unit public housing development — announced this July — is listed as "under development" in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
In total, 107 new social housing units have been announced over the past two years, with construction yet to begin on the vast majority of them.
But Pike suggested on CBC Radio's On The Go on Tuesday that they are all done.
"Our own housing, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, we've completed 107 of those units," the minister said.
CBC News asked NLHC officials Wednesday if Pike wished to do an interview to clarify those comments, and his previous ones, that were not consistent with data provided by the housing corporation. There was no reply before deadline.
Meanwhile, the wait-list for NLHC housing has nearly doubled since 2021, to more than 2,800 applications currently in the queue.
What is a housing option?
The Liberal government has faced increasing scrutiny in recent weeks over housing issues, as a tent city sprang up across the street from Confederation Building and the premier acknowledged an "acute crisis."
Just over 100 of those 750 "housing options" are new planned NLHC social housing units. How does the rest of that total break down?
It turns out that the bulk of that number aren't actually new builds at all.
According to the housing corporation, 427 of those options are rental supplements through the Canada Housing Benefit. That's a portable housing benefit aimed at assisting with rental costs in the existing private housing market.
The rest of the housing options are on the more critical end of the housing continuum.
Non-profit shelter beds account for 174 of those options, with of them 114 completed — 108 in St. John's, three in Corner Brook, and three in Labrador West.
Of the 60 shelter beds listed as being under development, 45 will be in St. John's and 15 in Gander.
In the supportive housing category, there are 76 units in total — 20 opened at the Salvation Army-run Centre of Hope in downtown St. John's, and 56 under construction at the Gathering Place.
Finally, a new seven-unit women's second-stage housing project is being built in Labrador City.
And a new transition house is under construction — although NLHC didn't specify where — expanding the number of beds by five.
According to information provided by the NLHC, the number of housing options is actually 796 — higher than the commonly-used 750 figure.
'Aggressive with respect to builds'
In this year's provincial budget, the province launched a $70-million initiative aimed at enticing the private sector to build 850 new affordable homes over the next three years.
On Monday, in addition to its five-point housing affordability plan, the government announced that $3 million will be spent to repair and renovate approximately 143 vacant NLHC units.
Furey said that package of measures is helping to deal with some of the immediate needs.
"We've been aggressive with respect to builds on the affordable housing piece, again 750 and 850 and now the 143," the premier told reporters.
The five-point plan announced this week has another number — upwards of 500 new housing options added to the market — over and above all of those.
Asked whether there is a timeline for that target to be achieved, Furey said: "We all want to see things go as fast as possible."
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