Waitlist for Indigenous housing and need for food skyrockets along with the cost of living

The skyrocketing cost of living has substantially increased an Indigenous housing organization's wait list, as employees step up to provide basic necessities for families in need.

About five years ago the wait list for an individual to receive housing for the Can-Am Urban Native Homes in Windsor, Ont., was about two years.Today that wait list has grown to seven years.

The organization said the price of houses, increase in mortgage rates and the cost of food and other goods has made it challenging for individuals to transition out of the organization's homes into their own.

"Over the last couple of years we have had maybe only two move outs," said Amy Graf, the tenant liaison at Can-Am Urban Native Homes.

"People are just choosing to stay which means people on our wait list, which has grown exponentially, are also waiting longer."

The organization operates about 100 homes that are affordable and safe for people of Indigenous ancestry living in the City of Windsor.

Housing is just one area of service the group is struggling to meet.

We are the face of giving or not giving but yet we don't create the policies or the funding for the programs.- Amy Graf

Graf said she's seen a major increase in the number of tenants needing food. Five years ago she was taking a couple clients to foodbanks a week, now she spends two days of her week solely dedicated to helping others eat.

With fresh food from Windsor's Forgotten Harvest, she loads up her van and drives to tenants who are struggling to afford food like a grocery store on wheels.

"It's very scary. How can people work on mental health, how can people work on all these other things if they can't even figure out where they are going to stay or get their next meal from," she said.

"As a community, as a province, a country, I think we are kind of failing on some levels when families are struggling for their basic needs."

Graf said the reliance on food banks, not only alarming but can also have consequences on an individuals health as they're relying on canned foods or something that can be preserved longer instead of fresh produce.

In 2019, a 10-year First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study found the rates of obesity and diabetes are higher among First Nations adults than in the general Canadian population, while almost half of all Indigenous families have difficulty putting enough food on the table.

"Children in these homes that are living off of food bank food, what kind of disadvantage does that put them at when they are living off of food that is not nourishing their body properly," she said.

Graf said the current state of the economy has created a feeling of helplessness within the community.

"There can be a feeling that things will never change. How will I ever get out of this situation? People no longer see those long term goals it's more of survival mode."

Irek Kusmierczyk the member of Parliament for Windsor-Tecumseh pointed to a number of initiatives that the Liberal government is implementing to help lower the cost of living and help with the housing crisis.

For example the government's $10-a-day childcare program promise, the Canadian Dental Care Plan and the new Grocery Rebate program.

Kusmierczyk said there has to be a multi pronged approach with different levels of government to tackle the housing crisis but said the federal government has invested $200-million into Windsorto build more housing.

"We have a federal government that is responding, putting more money in the pockets of Canadians and bringing good paying jobs to our communities. That is how we are going to deal with the affordability crisis in our community," he said.

A spokesperson from the Office of the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities said the government is aware Indigenous people living in urban, rural and northern areas face unique barriers and challenges to accessing safe, affordable and adequate housing.

A spokesperson said the federal government has invested $4.3 billion to implement a co-developed Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.

• New affordable housing plans give some hope to those on a long waiting list

That housing could not come soon enough for Can-Am Urban Native Homes who would like to see more sufficient funds allocated to groups like theirs.

"There is a level of frustration because the community comes to us to look for help but we only have the resources we have," said Graf.

"We are the face of giving or not giving but yet we don't create the policies or the funding for the programs."