Will Canada be able to house all the immigrants it hopes to welcome by 2025?

21 Feb 2023

到 2025 年，加拿大能否容纳它希望欢迎的所有移民？住房是过上舒适生活的重要组成部分。加拿大在为移民开发足够的住房方面面临着严峻的挑战，尤其是在 2025 年之前移民目标不断提高的情况下。 Will Canada be able to house all the immigrants it hopes to welcome by 2025? Housing is a major part of leading a comfortable life. Canada is facing a crucial challenge with developing enough housing for immigrants, especially with rising immigration targets through 2025.

根据加拿大最新的《2023-2025年移民水平计划》，该国希望在未来三年迎来创纪录的移民数量，年度目标定为不少于46.5万人，并在2025年实现50万新永久居民的里程碑目标. According to Canada’s latest Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025, the country hopes to welcome a record-breaking number of immigrants over the next three years, with annual targets set at no less than 465,000 and a milestone goal of 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025.

简而言之，制定这些高目标是为了帮助加拿大弥补其人口老龄化和低生育率问题，这些问题正在损害该国的自然劳动力。换句话说，加拿大需要如此高远的移民目标来帮助维持该国的劳动力市场并确保国民经济保持强劲。 In short, these high targets are in place to help Canada compensate for its aging population and low fertility rate, which are compromising the country’s natural labour force. In other words, Canada requires such lofty immigration targets to help sustain the labour market in this country and ensure that the national economy remains strong.

然而，在加拿大对移民的需求的另一面，人们担心加拿大可能无法支持满足新移民涌入时的一些最基本需求。也就是说，许多人担心，从现在到 2025 年，加拿大将难以为其旨在欢迎的许多移民提供足够的住房。此外，移民自己也同样担心，如果他们做出改变生活的决定，加拿大是否有能力维持他们的生活在这个国家开始新的生活。 On the flip side of Canada’s need for immigrants, however, is the concern that Canada may not be able to support the delivery of some of the most basic needs that an influx of newcomers would have. Namely, there is concern among many that Canada will struggle to provide adequate housing for the many immigrants that it aims to welcome between now and 2025. Additionally, immigrants themselves are similarly concerned about Canada’s ability to sustain them if they make the life-altering decision to start a new life in this country.

好像是什么问题？ What seems to be the problem?

移民和加拿大人都担心这个国家将无法满足加拿大在短短几年内寻求欢迎的数十万移民的住房需求。 Immigrants and Canadians alike are worried that this country will not be able to handle the housing needs of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants Canada seeks to welcome in a few short years.

对这个问题的关注已经持续了一段时间，巴勒斯坦难民 Aziza Abu Sirdana 等故事就是典型。 2022 年 11 月上旬，在一次有联邦政府参与的会议上，阿布·瑟尔达娜 (Abu Sirdana) 迫切希望有人承认她在住房问题上的挣扎，这种渴望达到了沸点。 Concern regarding this issue has been persistent for some time now, typified by stories such as that of Palestinian refugee Aziza Abu Sirdana. In early November 2022, Abu Sirdana’s desperation for someone to acknowledge her housing struggle reached a boiling point during a meeting involving the federal government.

在多伦多西部的一家难民旅馆住了七个月后，Abu Sirdana 在加拿大移民、难民和公民部 (IRCC) 的一名政府官员面前刺伤了自己，希望引起 IRCC 的注意。在接受 CTV 新闻采访时，Abu Sirdana 反问，“如果你们[政府]知道没有合适的地方让我留下来，你为什么要接受我来[加拿大]？” After seven months of living in a refugee hostel west of Toronto, Abu Sirdana stabbed herself in front of a government official from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) hoping to get IRCC’s attention. In an interview with CTV News, Abu Sirdana questioned, rhetorically, “if you [the government] know that there’s no suitable place for me to stay why did you accept me to come [to Canada]?”

值得庆幸的是，根据 CTV 于 11 月 29 日发布的后续报道，在 Abu Sirdana 的案例中，渥太华的一个家庭最终在当月晚些时候回应了她的求助请求，他们允许这名出生在加沙的难民与他们同住。 Thankfully, in Abu Sirdana’s case, her plea for help was eventually answered by a family in Ottawa later that month, who allowed the Gaza-born refugee to move in with them, according to a follow-up story published by CTV on November 29.

尽管如此，关于加拿大容纳越来越多新移民的能力仍然存在更多问题和担忧。事实上，加拿大广播公司新闻 (CBC News) 去年 11 月的一篇报道清楚地表明，不断增加的移民“目标……加剧了人们对所有这些新公民将在何处安家的担忧，因为该国正在经历住房危机。” Still, more questions and concerns persist regarding Canada’s ability to house an increasing number of new immigrants. In fact, a story from November by CBC News articulated that rising immigration “targets have … spiked anxiety about where all these new citizens will make their homes, given the country’s ongoing housing crisis.”

在两个月前的同一个故事中，CBC 采访了不列颠哥伦比亚省的一位财产税专家，他说：“我们每年建造大约 265,000 套房屋，这里我们谈论的是每年有 500,000 名移民进来。在我们谈论这种移民涌入之前，我们就已经供不应求了。”遗憾的是，这一声明只会进一步表明加拿大人越来越担心政府可能难以为大量移民提供他们在加拿大建立舒适的新生活所需的住房。 In the same story from just two months ago, CBC spoke to a property tax specialist in British Columbia who said “we build approximately 265,000 homes per year, and here we are talking about 500,000 immigrants coming in per year. We’re under-supplied before we even talk about this immigrant influx”. Regrettably, this statement only further establishes the growing level of concern among Canadians that the government may struggle to support an influx of immigrants with the housing they need to establish comfortable new lives across this country.

加拿大正在为解决这个住房问题做些什么？ What is Canada doing to work towards solving this housing problem?

作为联邦政府住房战略的一部分，加拿大最大的省份目前正朝着解决安大略省的住房问题迈出初步步伐，这要归功于对建筑业的新投资超过 350 万美元。 Canada’s biggest province is currently taking initial strides toward addressing this housing problem in Ontario, thanks to a new $3.5+ million investment into the construction industry as part of the federal government’s housing strategy.

2022 年 10 月 6 日，安大略省宣布向 Merit Ontario 投资 370 万加元，“该组织支持雇用工会和非工会工人的承包商，以扩展他们的在线工作银行[和]为数千人匹配建筑工作超过 300 家小型、中型和大型雇主。” On October 6, 2022, Ontario announced a $3.7 million investment into Merit Ontario, “an organization that supports contractors who employ both unionized and non-unionized workers, to expand their online job bank [and] match thousands of people with construction jobs at more than 300 small, medium and large employers.”

这项投资旨在“帮助多达 2,500 名工人开始或推进高薪职业”，将帮助该省“帮助实现 [其] 雄心勃勃的基础设施计划”，其中包括到 2031 年建造 150 万套住房。 This investment, designed to “help up to 2,500 workers start or advance in well-paying careers” in construction will aid the province in “helping deliver [on its] ambitious infrastructure plans”, which include building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

展望未来 Looking ahead

像去年在安大略省进行的金融投资这样的努力代表了朝着纠正目前困扰该国的住房危机迈出的富有成效的第一步。 Efforts like the financial investment made in Ontario last year represent a productive initial step toward rectifying the housing crisis that currently plagues this country.

加拿大联邦政府最近还对一些寻求购买某些住宅房地产的非加拿大人实施了为期两年的购买禁令。此举限制既不是加拿大永久居民也不是公民的人在加拿大购买住宅房地产，旨在帮助入籍加拿大人和移民都更能负担得起加拿大的住房。这项购买禁令和安大略省政府的投资都旨在在未来几年为加拿大新移民在加拿大住房市场创造更多空间。 Canada’s federal government has also recently imposed a two-year purchasing ban on some non-Canadians seeking to purchase certain residential real estate. This move, which restricts people who are not either Canadian permanent residents or citizens from purchasing residential real estate in Canada, is intended to help make housing in this country more affordable for both naturalized Canadians and immigrants alike. Both this purchasing ban and the investment by the Ontario government are aimed at creating more room in the Canadian housing market for incoming Canadians over the next few years.

注意： 采购禁令包括对加拿大境内的外国工人和国际学生的豁免 Note: The purchasing ban includes exemptions for foreign workers and international students inside Canada

最终，虽然加拿大无法立即看到这些住房投资和举措的全部影响，但时间很快就会证明上述这些行动是否足以帮助实现加拿大的目标，即建立足够的基础设施来支持该国雄心勃勃的计划从现在到 2025 年的移民目标。 Ultimately, although Canada will not be able to see the full impact of these housing investments and initiatives right away, time will soon tell if such actions as those described above are enough to help deliver on Canada’s goal of creating enough infrastructure to support the country’s ambitious immigration targets between now and 2025.

FCGvisa translated, © CIC News All Rights Reserved.