Federal Government Considers Hotel Purchases for Refugee Housing Amid Cost Concerns

The federal government is considering various solutions to address the ongoing housing crisis for refugee claimants. One of the options on the table is purchasing hotels to convert them into refugee housing centers, a move that Immigration Minister Marc Miller believes could significantly reduce costs.

Miller recently told the Globe and Mail that acquiring hotels and repurposing them for housing people seeking refugee status might be a more economical approach. This strategy could also involve integrating front-line workers within these facilities to provide essential services to the claimants while their cases are processed.

Data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada indicates that this year alone, the government has funded approximately 4,000 hotel rooms for 7,300 asylum seekers, many of whom were relocated from provincial shelters. Although housing refugee claimants is primarily a provincial responsibility, the federal government has stepped in to cover hotel costs since the pandemic due to overwhelmed provincial shelters.

In the 16 months from September 2021 to January 2023, Ottawa spent nearly $94 million on booking entire hotels to accommodate asylum seekers. This included 10 hotels in Montreal, as well as others in Niagara Falls and Ottawa. On average, asylum seekers stayed in these hotels for 113 days at a cost of $208 per person per day, which covered meals and security.

Aside from purchasing hotels, the federal government is also exploring the establishment of reception centers. One such center was announced last fall for the Peel Region in the Greater Toronto Area. Kamal Khera, Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons with Disabilities, explained to the CBC in November that this reception center will offer “streamlined” support and services to asylum seekers, including up to five days of temporary shelter, legal aid, and assistance with health and social issues, in collaboration with community organizations. Ottawa provided $7 million in funding for this center, which is expected to serve about 1,300 asylum claimants each month once operational.

“We know that the surge in asylum seekers has particularly strained resources here in Ontario, especially in the Greater Toronto Area,” Khera said. “In response to that, we have both increased our engagement and our resources.”

Further financial support continues to come from Ottawa. In January, Miller announced an additional $362.4 million in funding for the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. This program offers cost-sharing funding to provincial and municipal governments to address the extraordinary interim housing pressures resulting from the increased number of asylum claimants. This funding was on top of the $212 million announced the previous summer.

Additionally, last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $750 million to Quebec to help manage the influx of refugee claimants, which has been straining the province’s housing, education, and healthcare systems. This funding aims “to compensate Quebec for two fiscal years of costs they’ve incurred for the disproportionate flow of asylum seekers,” Miller stated. Last year, Quebec received 65 percent of refugee claimants entering through official border crossings and 95 percent of those entering the country illegally.