Only 132 military housing units built in the past 5 years
The Department of National Defence (DND) says thousands of Canadian Armed Forces members and their families across the country are waiting for military housing — a situation which is forcing some local commanders to take unusual steps to shelter troops.
New figures provided to The Canadian Press show nearly 4,500 service members and their families who applied for military housing were sitting on a waiting list administered by the Canadian Forces Housing Agency in July.
The situation underscores what defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre has identified as a significant shortage of affordable housing for Canada’s military. Earlier this year, Eyre said it was one of the top concerns for his troops.
DND has about 12,000 military housing units available to rent on Canadian Forces bases and wings. Eyre has said that between 4,000 and 6,000 more units are needed.
The waiting list runs almost to 700 names at CFB Esquimalt near Victoria, B.C., where the local base commander has started letting new sailors live in their training quarters for months after their initial training is finished.
“Something that I have done out of empathy and concern for the position that our junior sailors find themselves in is to absorb those sailors into what are meant to be training and operational accommodations,” said navy Capt. Jeffrey Hutchinson.
Other bases and wings with large waiting lists include Halifax, Comox, B.C., and Ottawa, Borden, Petawawa, Kingston and Trenton, all in Ontario.
At 19 Wing Comox, Armed Forces members were told earlier this year that they could contact Habitat for Humanity if they needed help finding housing.
