Ottawa Accused Of Cutting On-Reserve Housing

Ottawa Accused Of Cutting On-Reserve Housing

Thursday, June 09, 2011 at 15:46

 

 

The federal government is being accused of cutting on-reserve housing dollars.

 

Carolyn Bennett is the Aboriginal Affairs critic for the Liberal Party.

 

Bennett says between 2008 and this year, spending has dropped by about $127 million.

 

She claims numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing show that in 2008, spending was at a level of $284 million for on-reserve homes.

 

However, CMHC projections for this year apparently show just $156 million will be spent.

 

Bennett says she is still waiting for a response from the government on how that can be.

 

She says this comes at a terrible time, as statistics indicate the waiting list for a home has grown 135% from 2004 to over 20,000 names.

 

Bennett adds the number of on-reserve homes needing renovations is also up by 40%, so the government has some explaining to do.