In a new Nanos Research poll more than 8 in 10 Canadians say they support or somewhat support investing in new affordable housing. What’s more, nearly 8 in 10 Canadians say they would be more supportive or somewhat more supportive of a political party proposing action to end homelessness and build affordable housing.

OTTAWA (August 11, 2021): Nanos Research has released the results of a nation-wide poll asking whether Canadians think ending homelessness and building more affordable housing is important enough to influence their political decisions.

The results show nearly 8 in 10 Canadians would be more supportive (39%) or somewhat more supportive (39%) of a political party that proposes concrete action to end homelessness and build safe, affordable housing in Canada.  There was little variation across geographies or age groups, with a majority of Canadians in every region of the country, in every age group, sharing this sentiment.

Poll respondents were also clear that their support for action on homelessness and affordable housing came with a timeline, with 70 percent of respondents indicating action on these issues should be an urgent priority (score of 7-10 out of 10). 

For some respondents, the housing crisis was not a theoretical concern.

“The survey also showed 15 percent of respondents were worried or somewhat worried about how to pay for their housing in the next month alone” said Tim Ross, Executive Director, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. “With these kind of numbers, many Canadians are likely to know someone who is experiencing the housing crisis first-hand, so it isn’t surprising they support real action to solve it”.

“We are at a tipping point” said Jeff Morrison, Executive Director, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association. “We’ve seen housing need and homelessness numbers rise over the last decades, particularly for Indigenous peoples in Canada, but the pandemic has exposed this unacceptable crisis to more and more Canadians. I think the poll results reflect this”.

“As someone who has experienced homelessness first-hand, I am buoyed to see more and more Canadians being clear that investing in affordable housing and ending homelessness matters to them, so much so that it is likely to impact their political preference” said Al Wiebe, Co-Chair, Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network

“As it appears we may soon see a federal election, we urge all political parties to quickly outline how they will work to end homelessness and build more affordable housing” said Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.  “It’s clear that Canadians will be paying attention.”

For more information visit: https://www.votehousing.ca/poll

 Key Facts

• Every day in Canada, 1.7 million households live in a home that is either unaffordable, overcrowded and/or needs major repairs, while 35,000 Canadians experience homelessness on any given night.
• This poll was commissioned by Vote Housing and was conducted by Nanos Research.
• Vote Housing is a national, non-partisan campaign created by four national non-profit organizations: The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness; the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association; the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network; and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. These organizations collectively represent thousands of affordable housing and homelessness-sector organizations supporting even more Canadians experiencing housing need from coast to coast to coast.
• This poll was a hybrid telephone (land and cell lines) and online random survey of 1,002 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, undertaken between July 30th and August 2nd, 2021 as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for a random survey of 1,002 Canadians is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
• The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.
• The solutions being proposed by Vote Housing can be found at votehousing.ca/platform