Beyond housing supply: Supporting low income households through a new Canada Renters Credit
Canada needs more deeply affordable housing, but building at the scale that’s needed will take years. In the meantime, income is what pays the rent and keeps people housed.
In this webinar, Sam DiBellonia and Alexi White presented Maytree’s proposal for a Canada Renters Credit: a monthly federal benefit delivered through the tax system to low-income renters paying market rents.
It would work in a similar way to the Canada Child Benefit, but for renters with low incomes. No new complexity or administration from cumbersome applications. No referrals or waitlists. Just one national income floor for renters from coast to coast.
The webinar discussed this idea in more detail and explored how it could work with other rent supplements, like the Canada Housing Benefit. Sam and Alexi also presented their proposal for a longer-term vision of an integrated, meaningful, and efficient system of income support for renters.
With the federal government working on a new National Housing Strategy, we need to act now. The Canada Renters Credit can be a necessary part of the solution to end the low-income housing crisis.