Will premiers back Ottawa’s housing plan?

Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. This appears to be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s communications strategy in the lead up to the federal government’s budget rollout next week. In fact, nowhere is this mad dash, campaign-style, policy push more pronounced than on the housing file: a subject that produces fresh headlines almost daily.

In recent weeks the federal government has launched a $6billion infrastructure fund to speed up housing construction; it has promised a renters’ “bill of rights,” that would establish a national standard lease agreement; it has announced $15 million in funding for provincial legal aid for tenants; it has announced $600 million in loans, in part to fast track the construction of prefabricated homes; it has announced a $15-billion top-up to its Apartment Construction Loan Program.

For it is plainly obvious that these announcements have not come out of the blue. The prime minister is trying to court young voters who are struggling amid a national housing crisis and lending their support to federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as a result (the Conservative leader hasn’t been shy about his plans to “build homes fast”).

Yet despite the rather obvious political calculation inherent in the announcements, many of Trudeau’s policy planks — particularly where renters are concerned — are positive and welcome news. Additional funding for legal aid for renters — an often overlooked, demographic — is helpful and necessary. So is the fact that the federal government clearly views housing as a national priority. After all, Canada’s housing woes intensified when the federal government exited the affordable housing business.

It is a great thing it wants back in. The problem though is not the prime minister’s motivation, but his methods, pumping out piecemeal policy announcements in quick succession to maximize publicity ahead of the release of the federal budget.

Indeed, the stream of announcements perfectly summarizes much of what is wrong with Canada’s approach to the housing crisis. Fragmented policy will not get us out of this crisis. The only way forward is through holistic collaboration and problem solving with provincial and municipal governments at every step.

And the fact remains that while many of the federal government’s policies could benefit Canadians, they require buy-in from other levels of government that are not always eager to collaborate. A prime example of this conflict is playing out right now in Ontario where Premier Doug Ford has declared his opposition to “forcing” municipalities in the province to allow fourplexes, residential buildings with four units inside. The federal government’s infrastructure fund announcement comes with conditions for provinces and territories, one of them being fourplex legalization across municipalities.

Ford, however, is adamant that he won’t play along; he told reporters that communities in Ontario would “lose their minds” if fourplexes were allowed as of right across the province. In other words, though we may perceive the issue as hyperlocal, the sheer possibility that voters will cry “Not in my backyard!” in the face of new development has the power to impact policy at a provincial and national level.

Trudeau insists he won’t let provincial intransigence get in the way. “If a province decides it doesn’t want to be ambitious on housing, that’s their decision. We will work with the municipalities within that province that are ambitious.”

But it isn’t just Ford who is objecting to what he perceives to be federal government overreach. According to reporting by the Star’s Tonda MacCharles, the prime minister’s recent announcements on several files, from health care to housing, has angered some of Canada’s premiers; one provincial source described the situation as “a risk for national unity.”

However, at the end of the day the risk is not to national unity but to a Canadian public that is at the mercy of leaders who refuse to co-operate with one another.

The housing crisis in Canada is often described as intractable and complex. And it is. But there is one truth about the crisis that is straight forward: it will take all three levels of government working together in good faith to make a difference. Until that happens Canada’s housing crisis will rage on unabated, no matter how many news conferences the prime minister calls.