The federal and provincial governments will each invest $900 million over the next four years to accelerate housing construction in Quebec, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault confirmed on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.
A statement from the Housing Ministry says a count of the homeless conducted in 20 B.C. communities over a 24-hour period showed an increase compared with previous counts in 2020 and 2021.
Instead of blowing the windfall on "temptation goods", such as alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, they spent it on rent, clothing and food, the study led by University of British Columbia researcher Jiaying Zhao found.
Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane was a social worker before entering politics, so when the territory ordered everyone in its capital to leave last week due to encroaching wildfires, she said she checked to make sure homeless people weren't forgotten.
The British Columbia government will invest billions of dollars to ease a housing "crisis that is touching people in every corner of the province," Premier David Eby said.
An extreme cold snap that is forecast to bring a risk of frostbite and hypothermia with temperatures of -27 C Friday night has shelters in the Montreal area fearing for the vulnerable homeless population.
The toxic drug crisis in British Columbia was a key factor in pushing the number of deaths of homeless people up by 75 per cent in 2021 compared with the year before, the BC Coroners Service says.
The deadline to dismantle an encampment along Vancouver's Hastings Street has passed with little change, but the city's mayor says he's reached out to the federal and B.C. governments for urgent funding and other supports.