Carney’s pledge to end homelessness ripped on social media

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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s nearly $30-billion plan to end homelessness in less than a decade is being met with online pushback.

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Last Friday, a day after unveiling the Liberal government’s 2026 budget, Carney flew to Winnipeg to announce his plan to tackle homelessness. The federal government inked a partnership with Manitoba that will see more than $1 billion in federal funding to help build more than 2,000 new supportive and transitional homes and a new Winnipeg Centre for Mental Health and Addictions.

“Here in Winnipeg, as in many cities across Canada, the homelessness crisis is acute,” Carney said.

“It starts with people who are just getting by and something goes wrong: a lost job, a family breakdown, an illness, an addiction. Or often, several blows come all at once. And when the systems that are meant to help can’t cope, people fall through. And for too many, homelessness doesn’t end quickly.”

Billions earmarked to end crisis

The Liberals have earmarked $6.5 billion to keep veteran’s housed, $5.5 billion to renew the Canada Housing Benefit that provides monthly rental assistance to low-income Canadians, $10 billion to support the construction of about 25,000 supportive and transitional homes across the country, $5 billion to build facilities that bring together housing, health care, mental health and addictions treatment, and other social services, and $2 billion to build new mental health and addictions treatment facilities and refurbish existing ones.

On Sunday, Carney shared a news headline to his X account about the federal budget’s plan to end homelessness.

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“In Canada, we take care of each other,” he captioned the image.

However, many reacted online by pointing out that the Liberals have been in power for more than a decade and have had shown very little success on that front.

No success while Liberals in power

“Eleven years in government. Canadians sleeping in parks and other encampments. And you’re posting a headline asking for 10 more years to sort it out?” responded Neil G. Oberman, a Montreal lawyer and former Conservative Party candidate.

“You advised (former Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau. Now you’ve got his job. Who exactly are you waiting for to fix this? Gregor Robertson? How did his plan to end homelessness in Vancouver work out?

Robertson, who currently serves as the Minister of Housing in Carney’s government, was elected mayor of Vancouver in 2008 by campaigning on ending homelessness on city streets by 2015.

In 2010, Vancouver’s unhoused population showed a 9% increase two years later when 1,715 homeless people were counted, and a 70% increase in individuals using shelters, according to city numbers.

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At the end of Robertson’s time as mayor, in 2018, the city count showed 2,181 people were homeless, with 1,522 sheltered and 659 living on the street.

Since then, the homeless population grew to 2,715 people by 2025, with 1,952 sheltered and 763 living on Vancouver streets.

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Recent immigration levels a problem

Some pointed out that no country in the world has eradicated homelessness while others suggested recent immigration increases have affected housing availability and affordability.

“Imagine how colossally stupid you have to be to make a claim like this,” wrote one commenter.

As of Wednesday, Carney’s message has received more than 3,600 mostly negative responses while hundreds more quoted his post.

While organizations like the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness are cautiously optimistic about the Carney plan, researchers at the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a Montreal think tank, said the federal government can’t end the crisis by itself.

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Buy-in from provinces and municipalities

In fact, there must be buy-in from provinces and municipalities to put a large dent in homeless numbers.

“Effective implementation will determine the government’s success or failure on homelessness,” researchers wrote in the organization’s Policy Options magazine. “As with most things coming out of the Carney government, the programs will need to roll out fast to spend the billions of dollars earmarked for the 2027-2028 fiscal year. Doing that effectively will be challenging.”

The Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to significantly reduce homelessness, but the number of people without a home increased in most parts of Canada since then.

Researchers said affordability and housing experts have recommended governments increase income support, build more non-market housing, and fund wraparound supports for those experiencing homelessness.

However, it remains to be seen if the money and efforts are enough to end homelessness within the next 10 years.

“Canada has been falling behind on homelessness and food insecurity for some time. At the very least, these budget measures could help to reverse these trends in the coming years,” researchers said.

“But people will still fall through the cracks.”

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