2025-26 Federal Budget Lacks Clarity on Urban Indigenous Housing

November 7, 2025

We can deliver solutions at the speed, scope, and scale this housing crisis demands.”

Unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Vancouver BC – Following the Federal Budget 2025-26 announcement, the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA) encourages understanding of the support needs for urban, rural and northern (URN) Indigenous Peoples, who represent nearly 80% of all Indigenous people in Canada.

“The $2.8B in URN funding promised in 2022, and reconfirmed in this budget, was designated for urban Indigenous housing providers due to urgent need,” said Margaret Pfoh, CEO of
the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA). “What we hope to see now is more than a distinctions-based approach to delivering these funds, which would sideline the proven leadership and capacity of expert urban Indigenous housing providers.”

AHMA members alone have 11 projects, totaling 764 units that are shovel-ready and received federal and provincial investment to get them to the shovel-ready state. These projects are awaiting the release of the federal URN funding to complete their projects in support of BC communities. AHMA members consistently deliver housing that is culturally safe, reliable, and a high-return investment.

“We are relying on the federal government to recognize the tireless work and expertise of urban Indigenous housing providers who can deliver solutions at the speed, scope, and scale this housing crisis demands,” states Pfoh. “We can do it faster and more efficiently than anyone else.”

AHMA is concerned that the long-delayed RFP process for this funding remains undisclosed. A distinctions-based approach would limit the funding to First Nations, Métis, or Inuit governments, which would exclude the majority of URN Indigenous people who have been colonially displaced or dispossessed. The National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. (NICHI) was specifically formed to meet URN housing needs and has a proven track record of distributing funding quickly, and getting homes built.

AHMA welcomes the commitment to build new co-op housing, launch the Canada Rental Protection Fund, use public lands for community housing development, utilize factory-built housing, invest in transitional and supportive housing, provide lower-cost financing, and support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit housing and infrastructure. We also appreciate the commitment to supporting Wage and Gender Equality Canada, as well as funding to address gender-based violence. Indigenous women are disproportionately impacted by gender-based violence and require housing solutions that can ensure their safety.

To be truly generational and transformational, though, the federal government needs to equitably address rising homelessness and ensure that those most vulnerable to housing precarity are prioritized.

“We are particularly concerned for Indigenous youth,” adds Pfoh. “Our youth can’t live on empty promises. It’s time for the federal government to partner with us to fill the gaps, starting with homes.”

According to Bailey Waukey, AHMA’s Senior Policy Analyst, the housing crisis is hitting young Indigenous people hardest. “When Indigenous youth transition out of the foster care system, it is known as the superhighway to homelessness.”

AHMA’s youth-focused research reveals gaps in housing systems, including a lack of Indigenous-specific youth housing providers and an over-reliance on unsafe emergency shelters that lack long-term supports.

“With 40% of young people concerned about employment and over half of young people unable to afford ANY of the housing options currently available, we need to do better,” adds Waukey.

URN organizations need a fair and equitable share of any spending, including capital investments through Build Canada Homes. AHMA calls on governments, funders, and sector partners to specifically invest in Indigenous youth–designed housing and services, prioritize Indigenous-led delivery of supports for youth at risk, and fund long-term, culturally safe housing.

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Read AHMA’s Urban, Rural, and Northern Housing Strategy for BC here: https://ahma-bc.org/resource-centre/research-data-reports/

Read the Indigenous Youth Housing Strategy here: https://ahma-bc.org/resource-centre/public-policy/indigenous-youth-housing-strategy/

Media contact: Kelly Moon

604-353-0427
communications@ahma-bc.org

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