Canada’s newly announced multi-billion-dollar military spending plan is missing the mark on housing, says a former adviser to Maritime Forces Pacific headquarters in Esquimalt.
New money for future housing development at CFB Esquimalt or any other military base in Canada won’t be available until 2026, according to the country’s latest $8.1-billion defence spending plan released on Monday.
Just $1 million of that $8.1 billion will go toward housing in the 2026-27 financial year. That figure doubles twice in the next two years, to a total of $7 million by 2029.
Jim Boutilier, a former special adviser at Maritime Forces Pacific, said the money for housing is not even “a tiny fraction of what’s needed to address the problem.”
The Armed Forces is facing a personnel crisis, with more than 16,000 positions unfilled and 10,000 troops lacking the training needed for deployments.
Housing is critically linked to recruitment and retention, Boutilier said. “A good many of our soldiers, sailors, men and women … they’re really struggling on this coast.”
“This is stuff that has to be done today, not next year.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at CFB Trenton in Ontario on Monday to announce the country’s newest military spending policy, which set aside $8.1 billion for the next five years and a total of $73 billion by 2044.
Speaking at CFB Trenton, Defence Minister Bill Blair said the government has pinpointed some of the factors that are keeping Canadians from joining the military, which include an over-saturated housing market, high costs of relocation, limited health and child-care access, and a lack of spousal employment opportunities.
“Over the past number of years, more people have left than have joined the Canadian Armed Forces,” Blair said.
The new policy aims to spend $100 million over the next five years to improve child-care access for military members and $281 million on an electronic health record platform that will improve continuity of care for members who move frequently to postings in different parts of the country.
DND spokesperson Diana Ebadi told the Times Colonist the money allocated for housing will be spent on building and rehabilitating housing and a housing strategy, but did not provide specifics.
The defence policy calls for spending a total of $295 million on housing for the Armed Forces over the next 20 years.
Boutilier, who advised the navy from 1996 to 2020, said he’s wary of long-range spending targets because future governments may not adhere to the promises. “When they start giving me 20-year figures, my eyes just glaze over.”
CFB Esquimalt spokesperson Capt. Chris Dubé said that 635 applicants are on the CFB Esquimalt housing waitlist, down from 745 applicants last year.
Of the 635 applications, 206 are from members who have been posted to Esquimalt but have not secured housing, Dubé said in an email.
The Department of National Defence manages 709 housing units for CFB Esquimalt across the capital region, according to the latest available annual report from the Canadian Forces Housing Agency.
It’s too early to tell how Monday’s announcement might affect the base, Dubé said.
Last February, DND announced its intention to build an 84-unit apartment complex at CFB Esquimalt, though no details about timing or location were given.
The Canadian Forces Housing Agency was unable provide an update about the timeline on the apartment complex.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins welcomed the new funding for military housing but said the more important thing is for “rubber to hit the road” on housing.
Short-term housing units at CFB Esquimalt are now permanently occupied by those unable to find housing, and some members of the military are commuting to work over the Malahat, she said.
The township has been approving new developments close to the base and has also negotiated some housing covenants for DND to have the exclusive opportunity to take over some units to help with the housing shortage, Desjardins said.
“Any developer that’s coming to town, we indicate the situation and recommend that they do have a conversation with base personnel about how they may be able to help alleviate some of the challenges,” she said. “These are people that are going to potentially lay down their life for their country. If we can’t provide them with timely housing, that would certainly make people question as to whether to join the military.”
