Politics

Internal DND documents show only 5% of planned military housing to be built this year

Defence Minister Bill Blair spent a portion of Thursday touting the Liberal government's plan to build an additional 668 military housing units, of which internal documents show only 36 will be completed this year.

Significant construction of new units still 2 years away

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands behind National Defence Minister Bill Blair as they hold a press conference on Canada's new defence policy at CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ont. on Monday, April 8, 2024.
National Defence Minister Bill Blair says the 668 planned military housing units will make an impact on affordability — but only 36 of those units are set to be complete in 2025-26. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Defence Minister Bill Blair spent a portion of Thursday touting the Liberal government's plan to build an additional 668 military housing units, of which internal documents show only 36 will be completed this year.

In fact, according to an internal Canadian Forces Housing Authority presentation obtained by CBC News, it will be two years before the program kicks into high-gear and begins delivering relief to hard-pressed soldiers, sailors and aircrew at nine bases across the country.

Blair toured Canadian Forces Base Borden north of Toronto on Thursday, where he opened a new accommodation facility for training recruits.

"The construction of 668 new housing units will help house more military families in affordable homes near bases across the country," Blair said in a statement.

The Defence Department "is helping meet the housing needs of military personnel, while alleviating housing demands in surrounding communities," the statement, released Thursday, said.

668 units by 2030

However, the internal documents, which were part of a presentation dated Jan. 25, show that the Defence Department hopes to construct an additional 156 units — mostly low-rise apartment buildings — in 2026-27, 204 in 2027-28, 182 in 2028-29 and 90 in 2029-30. 

The residential housing units (RHUs) are "prioritized for members in their first five years of service, compassionate postings, [those] returning from [out of Canada] postings and [those] posted for a course or series of courses," said the presentation.

In addition to building new housing, the Defence Department is undertaking to renovate and redevelop some properties and buy additional ones (189 units in Yellowknife and exploring a potential partnership in Ottawa).

The Liberal government announced last year that $1.4 billion would be spent over 20 years to improve military housing — one of several affordability initiatives.

A series of internal Defence Department reports and studies have pointed to the lack of affordable housing as a major drag on morale in the military and is even being blamed for the steady attrition rate where some troops decide to leave rather than accept a posting in a high-cost area of the country.

Legislative committees in both the House of Commons and at least one provincial legislature have heard testimony that the housing affordability crisis has led to a spike in homelessness among soldiers and veterans.

In the fall of 2023, Craig Hood, executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command, told a provincial legislature committee that he'd heard startling stories of serving military members in the province who are living rough in tents, living in their vehicles and couch surfing. He described the situation at the time as an "epidemic."

Nova Scotia is home to the country's largest naval base in Halifax.

A House of Commons committee heard separate, but similar testimony last year prior to the introduction of the housing measures in the last federal budget.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Murray Brewster

Senior reporter, defence and security

Murray Brewster is senior defence writer for CBC News, based in Ottawa. He has covered the Canadian military and foreign policy from Parliament Hill for over a decade. Among other assignments, he spent a total of 15 months on the ground covering the Afghan war for The Canadian Press. Prior to that, he covered defence issues and politics for CP in Nova Scotia for 11 years and was bureau chief for Standard Broadcast News in Ottawa.