Mayor Iveson pleased with federal housing cash

Mayor Don Iveson is lauding the federal government’s investment in affordable housing, which he said will “move the needle” on homelessness in Edmonton.

“It will mean the opportunity to do more projects like Londonderry (and) partner with the province to build more permanent supportive housing,” he said Wednesday in an interview from Ottawa, where he’s heading the Big City Mayors’ caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. “It’s a strong budget for cities.”

The federal budget released Wednesday slated $11.2 billion for affordable housing in Canada over the next decade, with money coming from the government’s social infrastructure fund.

“(It’s) unprecedented in this generation to have the federal government so deeply re-engaged in affordable housing and social housing,” Iveson said.

He also touted the government’s $20.1-billion investment in public transit infrastructure over the next 11 years — Edmonton’s share of that should be sufficient to fund the west leg of the LRT and the Blatchford LRT extension, he said.

But that news comes with an asterisk, Iveson said.

“The federal government will provide up to 40 per cent for new construction. We need the provincial government, ideally as they’ve long signalled out of the carbon fund, to match the federal government’s increased level of commitment to transit.

“Otherwise the undue burden on property taxpayers will make it difficult for the City of Edmonton to keep up.”

He said council will be able to set other transit extension priorities with additional funds once they know how much money they’re working with.

The federal government is axing the public transit tax credit, which reimbursed transit users at tax time.

“I’m actually not sad to see that go,” Iveson said, adding that it didn’t help low-income riders. “I don’t think it was actually an effective incentive and it only worked for people who ... had taxable income.”

The federal budget also eliminated tax on naloxone, a life-saving drug used to treat people overdosing on fentanyl.

“Treating naloxone as an essential is only appropriate given the opioid crisis we are experiencing,” Iveson said.