Canada announces funding to help with refugee housing crisis
Posted July 18, 2023 8:13 am.
Last Updated July 18, 2023 8:35 am.
The federal government has announced new funding to ensure communities are able to support vulnerable asylum claimants in Canada.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser says $212 million will be injected into the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP), which will be extended until March 31 of next year.
Toronto will receive nearly $100 million of that to help fund housing solutions for refugees.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says it has also been working with province and municipalities that are most affected “to increase the amount of temporary housing.”
IRCC adds there are more than 3,800 hotel rooms across six provinces providing temporary housing to those seeking asylum.
Toronto has been turning away refugees and asylum seekers from its at-capacity shelters since June, referring them to federal programs and arguing it needed more money from the federal government to accommodate the influx.
Newly elected Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow pressed Ottawa for an additional $160 million last week, calling the crisis a federal responsibility. The federal government said Friday that the responsibility of housing and support for asylum seekers lies with provinces and municipalities.
On Monday night, a growing group of refugees were moved to a North York church for shelter after spending days living on the sidewalk outside a downtown Toronto shelter intake office.
The federal government says increasing global migration has led to a rise in the number of asylum claimants in Canada.
