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Home / The Housing Crisis

The housing gap is a housing emergency.

Across First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, tens of thousands of families live in homes that are overcrowded, mould-ridden, or wearing out faster than they can be repaired. Here is the scale of it, and why it can be closed.

A small home with patched, mismatched siding stands in the snow at the edge of a remote northern forest
The disparity
23×

First Nations people are roughly 23 times more likely to experience homelessness than non-Indigenous people in Canada.

Source: Assembly of First Nations, National First Nations Homelessness Action Plan (2023).

Share living in crowded housing

Crowded = the home does not have enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of the household (National Occupancy Standard).

First Nations · on reserve35.7%
First Nations · off reserve18.4%
Non-Indigenous Canada9.4%

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (Housing conditions among First Nations people, Métis and Inuit).

The scale of the need

Four numbers that define the gap.

157,453homes needed to close the First Nations housing gapAFN, Closing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030 (2023)
$135B+the cost to permanently close the First Nations housing gapAFN, Closing the Infrastructure Gap (2023)
32.5%of emergency shelter users in Canada are Indigenous, while Indigenous people are just 5% of the populationNational Shelter Study 2024, Housing, Infrastructure & Communities Canada
80%of First Nations housing needs remain unmet, four audits over 20 yearsAuditor General of Canada, March 2024
What the gap looks like

Behind the numbers: real homes, real winters.

A remote northern Indigenous community of houses on a snowy coastline at sunset, with smoke rising from the chimneys
Remote and hard to reach, far from the factories and supply chains that build homes.
Why the crisis persists

Two problems, tightly knotted together.

The gap isn't the result of any single failure. It's the product of hard conditions on the ground and financing that has never added up.

On the ground

Homes that can't keep out the cold

In many communities, families double and triple up in homes built for far fewer people. Overcrowding spreads illness, strains mental health, and is closely linked to children being taken into care.

Remote geography, short building seasons, and the high cost of shipping materials mean homes wear out faster than they can be replaced, and mould, thin insulation, and failing systems put health at risk every winter.

The math

Funding that never adds up

Capital for Indigenous housing is fragmented across programs, short-term, and rarely enough to finance a home from start to finish. Communities are left assembling funding piece by piece, year by year.

As construction and borrowing costs rise, the gap widens faster than existing programs can close it. Without a way to bring capital together at scale, the backlog compounds, and the wait grows longer.

A young Inuit woman wraps herself against the cold, sitting in the snow at dusk in a northern community lit by moonlight
When a home can't hold the heat, the cold becomes a daily fact of life.
Beyond the headline numbers

The crisis that doesn't get counted.

Official shelter statistics dramatically understate the problem. Hidden homelessness (couch-surfing, unsafe arrangements, overcrowded homes shared out of necessity) rarely appears in any count.

28.9%

First Nations hidden homelessness

Nearly 3 in 10 First Nations people off-reserve experience hidden homelessness, far above the non-Indigenous rate.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2018 Canadian Housing Survey.

10×

Fire death risk on reserve

First Nations people living on reserve are ten times more likely to die in a house fire than other people in Canada, and no national fire code applies on reserves.

Source: Statistics Canada, Fire-related deaths among Indigenous people, 2011–2020 (2024).

10,000+

Homes without indoor plumbing

More than 10,000 on-reserve homes across Canada lack indoor plumbing, a basic standard met almost everywhere else in the country.

Source: UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, 2019.

Data sources

Where these numbers come from

  • Assembly of First Nations, Closing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030 (2023), 157,453 homes needed; $135.1B to close the housing gap
  • Assembly of First Nations, National First Nations Homelessness Action Plan (2023), First Nations are 23× more likely to experience homelessness than non-Indigenous people
  • Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, National Shelter Study, 2024 Update, Indigenous people are 32.5% of shelter users while representing 5% of the population
  • Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Report 2: Housing in First Nations Communities (March 2024), 80% of housing needs unmet; fourth audit since 2003
  • Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: Housing conditions among First Nations people, Métis and Inuit, crowded-housing rates (35.7% on reserve, 18.4% off reserve, 9.4% non-Indigenous)
  • Statistics Canada, Circumstances surrounding fire-related deaths among Indigenous people, 2011–2020 (2024), First Nations on reserve 10× more likely to die in a house fire
  • Statistics Canada, 2018 Canadian Housing Survey, hidden homelessness rates by Indigenous identity group
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Report on Canada (2019), 10,000+ on-reserve homes without indoor plumbing
The crisis is solvable

Make reconciliation measurable.

Capital, technical expertise, and community leadership, brought together, can turn these numbers into homes. Partner with us to close the gap in a generation, not leave it to the next one.

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