Rick Colbourne, BC First Nation Housing Shortfall Assessment

BC First Nation Housing Shortfall Assessment 

Principal Investigator: Rick Colbourne, Management

This research will assist BC Housing to validate the nature and extent of housing need among First Nations in BC, both on and off reserve. The resulting report will support them in assisting Provincial ministers advocating for the need for increased expenditures on First Nations housing, on-reserve and off-reserve. The proposed work will draw on multiple data sources, including Census, Indigenous Services Canada administrative data and Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation data (off reserve) related to First Nation on-reserve and off-reserve housing need. It will also draw on preliminary analysis conducted by British Columbia Housing Mortgage Corporation including a review and refinement of assumptions, and rework and/or update data and findings.

The assessment will seek to estimate the current backlog in demand (need) backlog for homes on reserve (for each reserve and in aggregate) and will also seek to estimate the number of homes requiring major repair. This will include estimates of need based on current on reserve population as well as estimates of demand from members currently living off reserve. To gain insight into the potential for flows back to the reserve, qualitative interviews will be conducted with 8 First Nation community housing managers to augment the data and frame the narrative of the current state of First Nations on-reserve and off-reserve housing.