Over Half of Canadians Would Support a Political Party That Makes Affordable Housing a Priority, New Poll Finds

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 23, 2015) - Sixty-nine percent of Canadian households are home owners,⁽¹⁾ yet over half across Canada would support a political party that makes affordable housing a priority for those who are working poor, low income and homeless, and would support financial investment of two billion dollars per year, a new poll finds.

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), along with the Vote Housing For All Network, commissioned EKOS Research Associates to conduct a short survey of national attitudes towards affordable housing as an election issue in the current federal election campaign. Only 29.4% of those polled said they were not supportive of a political party that makes affordable housing a priority, and 24.8% were opposed to investing two billion dollars a year. The remaining respondents were neutral or supportive. The survey was included as part of EKOS' weekly telephone poll, with a margin of error of +/- 2.26, 19 times out of 20.

This poll supports a national week of action with housing advocates across Canada calling for a rights-based national housing strategy and federal re-investment in affordable housing of at least two billion dollars per year.

"Canadians recognize that we have an affordable housing and homelessness crisis, and we will vote for a party that prioritizes the issue. We are speaking up this week because housing is a human right, yet we have a worsening homelessness crisis in one of the world's richest countries. It is shameful that Canada remains the only G8 nation without a national housing strategy," said Helen Luu of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.

The national week of action runs from September 23^rd to September 30^th, with different groups and housing advocates launching events and actions across the country. ACTO will be hosting a Right to Housing Forum on September 30^th at Ryerson University, featuring the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and other guest speakers.

For more information on the national week of action and the Vote Housing For All Network: housing4all.ca / acto.ca

⁽¹⁾ National Household Survey, 2011 (Statistics Canada)

To view the report associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/VH4All_national_poll_report.pdf

To view the table of results for the poll associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/VH4All_national_poll_table_of_results.pdf