Social Housing in BC, AB and QC (1975-2015)

Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation is a transcript of a recent discussion I had with Dr. Maroine Bendaoud. His recently-defended PhD thesis looks at social housing in BC, Alberta and Quebec from 1975 until 2015.

Points raised in his thesis include he following:

-After Canada’s federal government stopped funding new social housing units in the 1990s, BC and Quebec continued to fund new social housing by themselves (without federal support). Alberta did not.

-Only after encountering a housing crisis beginning in the mid-2000s did Alberta’s provincial government get back into the social housing arena.

-Dr. Bendaoud’s main piece of advice for Alberta’s provincial government is to not wait for another housing crisis before taking action on the housing file.

The link to the transcript of my discussion with Dr. Bendaoud can be found here.