The National Housing Strategy (NHS) was enacted in 2017, and its implementation is overseen by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The NHS includes several funding programs for constructing new housing supply, funding for repairing and renewing existing affordable housing, resources for community housing providers, and funding for research and innovation. The NHS is the Government of Canada’s solution to their commitment to reduce the housing needs of 530,000 households across the country by 2028.

As part of the NHS research initiatives, CMHC has published a series of short-term findings in the early years of the Strategy’s implementation. In early 2018, CMHC published a synthesized report looking at the impacts of housing on economic, social, and health indicators. Housing First research has identified that having stable and affordable housing definitively leads to positive non-housing outcomes, however by reviewing and synthesizing the findings of over 130 relevant studies, CMHC has demonstrated in this report that achieving these positive outcomes can be more nuanced than just ensuring affordable and stable housing. These studies focused on the areas of family stability, child development, labour and employment, crime and safety, education, and health.

Physical and Mental Health

Based on the report’s findings, mental and physical health outcomes are not driven primarily by housing affordability, at least not in a direct sense. Instead, the report demonstrates that providing a home, renovation assistance, and housing allowances leads to lower rent payments, improved housing conditions, and the ability to move to more suitable and better quality homes. In turn, the extra income and improved living conditions can lead to reduced stress, less mold and toxins in the home, better nutrition, better attendance at work/school, and improved productivity. These can each lead to improved mental and physical health, however there are also mediating factors, such as socio-economic status, neighbourhood characteristics, and length of time living in the area, which also can have positive or negative impacts on mental and physical health.

Child Development and Education

Many studies reviewed for this report found that poor housing conditions, unstable or transient housing, and overcrowded housing all lead to negative child development and child education outcomes. This implies that when children are provided with a stable home and sufficient support to focus on learning, they will be able to better apply themselves in their education.

Homeownership has also been shown to have positive impacts on educational outcomes when compared to renting, however the reasons for this are unclear, and need to be explored further.

Key Factors Beyond Housing

While housing plays a significant role in improving the outcomes of personal development, family stability, education, and health, there are several more factors which can impact outcomes. For instance, while a child having a stable home can play an important role in their development, parenting styles and the condition of their neighbourhoods also have significant impacts on child development. Similarly, a household’s socioeconomic status, life experience, and the local healthcare system all impact health outcomes in addition to stable and affordable housing. And while a safe and secure home certainly affects a household’s perception of safety, the condition and features of the neighbourhood as well as social networks also have a strong influence on whether residents feel safe at home.

Research Limitations and Further Study

Notably, a relatively small proportion of the reviewed studies were based in Canada, with the majority coming from the Unites States. There were also relatively few studies that looked at mixed income community-based housing and cooperative housing, which are the most common housing models used in Canada. It can also be difficult to isolate the impact of stable, affordable housing on the non-housing outcomes, as there appear to be many contributing factors besides housing.

Further research in these areas is being conducted by CMHC through the NHS, including:

• The effects of renovations and sufficient unit space for all household members on physical health, mental health, child development, and education outcomes
• The effects of subsidized housing on employment, and the effect of rent-geared-to-income programs on residents’ income
• The effects of stable housing on the stability of a couple living together
• The reasons behind why home ownership translates to better educational outcomes

Resources:

• CMHC Research Insight: Outcomes of Stable, Affordable Housing: A Synthesis of Findings