One Bowl Applauds Budget 2024, Urges Federal Support for First Nations to Address Compounding Housing, Homelessness, and Labour Challenges

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Today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2024 federal budget.

Canada is facing compounding policy problems: an unmet need for greater housing supply, an acute

need for workers to create housing, and a social need to help marginalized Canadians facing barriers to

employment. These problems are particularly prevalent for First Nations communities.

We have been advocating for the federal government to invest in One Bowl Housing Corporation‘s

innovative Tree to Home solution to boost housing supply, reduce homelessness, and empower First

Nations communities.

One Bowl is a First Nations-led not-for-profit driven by a mission to build healthy, sustainable First

Nations Communities. We have made meaningful strides building a housing supply chain in Northern

Ontario that is on the verge of massively scaling up to meaningfully foster economic participation,

education, and employment opportunities, as well as better housing outcomes for First Nations

Communities.

We applaud the government for including measures to support these goals in Budget 2024.

At the same time, we emphasize the importance that the federal government must place in working in partnership with One Bowl, First Nations, and other Indigenous communities to roll out the programs that have been announced.

In particular, we recommend that the government:

1. Draw on a combination of the funding allocated to the Strategic Partnerships Initiatives’ Clean Energy program and Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program to support One Bowl in overcoming traditional government funding models which have posed substantial barriers to meaningful Indigenous ownership and engagement in the means to provide for our communities, allowing substantial Indigenous Ownership in an upcoming Ontario Modular Housing Manufacturing Facility with future revenues to be distributed through various means to drive down the future cost of housing.
   

2. Draw on the $918 million in new funding to Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to support One Bowl in establishing a full-service Northern Ontario Indigenous Housing Hub in Chapleau, Ontario and fund the beginning of the development of high-density (45 affordable units) housing and business frontage with the Municipality.
   

3. Ensure that the $100 million in total investment to scale innovative housing technologies and techniques prioritizes projects that have Indigenous proponents and/or will have direct impact on improving housing outcomes for Indigenous communities
   

4. Draw on the $100 million allocated to the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness program and Apprenticeship Service, to invest in One Bowl to ensure lasting Indigenous land and housing supply chain stewardship through increasing One Bowl’s staff complement, developing and implementing comprehensive health and safety training policies, and creating a program to train First Nations to construct Thermolog homes.
   

We urge the federal government to work in partnership with One Bowl, First Nations, and other

Indigenous communities to rollout the measures in Budget 2024 to improve the socioeconomic impact.

“At One Bowl, we pride ourselves on the innovative Tree to Home solution we have created to not only

create better quality housing more quickly and sustainably than other construction methods, but

meaningfully foster economic participation in First Nations communities too. We are calling on the

Government of Canada to invest in One Bowl to help facilitate the growth of a housing supply chain in

Northern Ontario that will foster economic participation, education, employment opportunities, and

better housing outcomes for First Nations Communities. – David Flood, Director, One Bowl

For more information, contact:

Jacob Gorenkoff, Founder & CEO, Homeward Public Affairs jacob@homewardpa.ca | 416.893.8185

Candace Larsen, Business Development Manager, One Bowl Housing Corporation

candace@onebowl.org | 705.406.3757