Federal Government Considers Hotel Purchases for Refugee Housing Amid Cost Concerns
One of the options on the table is purchasing hotels to convert them into refugee housing centers.
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.
Similar stories
Comments are closed.