Carney’s new budget aims to end homelessness in 10 years

Canada is embarking on a path to end homelessness in 10 years, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said as he presented the federal budget on Thursday.

“We have 65,000 Canadians who suffer from homelessness,” Champagne said at a news conference before the budget was tabled. “I think it’s the right thing to do.”

The 2026 budget proposes $11.2 billion over the next four years and $17.8 billion “in future years” toward helping people move from homelessness to stable housing, build community mental health and addictions facilities and support homelessness prevention programs.

“Canada has the resources, the people and the will to end homelessness — but every level of government and each sector has a role to play,” the budget said.

The federal government says it will work with provinces, municipalities and philanthropic partners to provide Canadians experiencing homelessness with jobs, training and income support.

Polls finds 1 in 10 say they’ve experienced homelessness

One in 10 Canadians say they have experienced homelessness, while one in three report knowing someone affected, according to an Abacus survey from October. 

In 2017, Canada pledged to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent by the 2027-28 fiscal year. Instead, homelessness surged by 59 per cent between 2020 and 2025, according to a report by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada.

One of the new ways the budget plans to tackle the crisis is by introducing an “integrated supports fund” through Build Canada Homes.

“The fund would support projects that bring housing together with health, mental health addictions and social supports,” the budget said.

It proposes through Build Canada Homes building new supportive and transitional housing across Canada, supporting capital costs — though province and territory partners will be the ones expected to fund operations and services associated with the housing projects.

The budget also proposes $2 billion over two years for the Health Infrastructure Fund, and to maintain $6.5 billion in support for existing programs Reaching Home and the Veterans Homelessness Program over the next 10 years. Plus, it proposes renewing the Canada Housing Benefit for another 10 years.

Winnipeg partnership

In particular, the government is proposing a new housing partnership directly with Manitoba, investing $1 billion through Build Canada Homes. The money will go to transitional housing and wraparound services – personalized supports that aim to address overlapping issues — in Winnipeg, and to building 2,000 new transitional and permanent supportive housing units in the city.

“We will begin immediately in Winnipeg to break the cycle of homelessness,” the budget said, delivering plans to provide care and permanent housing for the over 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in the city.

The budget stipulates that Manitoba will need to continue funding its current services “to make these investments successful,” citing Toronto’s Dunn House project as a successful example of a similar investment.

Ahead of 2027’s expected spring economic update, the government says if the budget is passed, it will work with provinces and territories on aligning bilateral agreements to follow through on ending the crisis in the next 10 years.