People walk outside a hotel where asylum seekers are staying, in downtown Niagara Falls, Ont., on Feb. 26, 2023. The federal government spent more than $100-million housing asylum seekers in Niagara Falls hotels between February, 2023, and February, 2024, according to figures obtained by Niagara Falls Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Ottawa is considering buying hotels to house the growing number of asylum seekers and to cut the cost of block-booking hotel rooms to accommodate them, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says.
The federal government has in the last few years taken out long leases on hotels to help provinces house thousands of refugee claimants. This year, Ottawa has been footing the bill for approximately 4,000 hotel rooms for 7,300 asylum seekers, many of whom have transferred from provincial shelters and churches, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
In a recent interview, Mr. Miller said the government is looking at a more sustainable and affordable way to house people claiming refugee status, including buying hotels and converting them.
One model being considered could involve installing federal and provincial officials in the converted hotels to provide front-line services to asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be heard, he added.
Despite efforts to “stabilize” the number of asylum claimants, “these numbers aren’t going down drastically anytime soon,” Mr. Miller said.
Between the last election in September, 2021, and January, 2023, the federal government spent almost $94-million booking entire hotels to accommodate asylum seekers, according to government figures obtained in an access to information request. They included 10 hotels in Montreal, including a 112-room hotel near its international airport, as well as hotels in Niagara Falls and Ottawa, booked to reduce pressure on larger cities.
The federal government spent more than $100-million housing asylum seekers in Niagara Falls hotels between February, 2023, and February, 2024, official figures obtained by Niagara Falls Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli show.
A reply from the federal government to a parliamentary question revealed that almost 5,000 asylum seekers, including from Nigeria, Kenya, Venezuela and Colombia, were accommodated in hotels during this period. On average, refugee claimants stayed 113 days in hotels at a cost of $208 per person each day, including room and meals and security,
The estimated overall bill for the year was approximately $115-million, although the figure was incomplete because information was not systematically tracked at the beginning of 2023. When Mr. Baldinelli received the reply, not all invoices since January, 2024, had been received by IRCC.
Housing asylum seekers is a provincial responsibility, but the federal government has been paying for asylum seekers to stay in hotels since the beginning of the pandemic to help provinces whose shelters are full.
Mr. Miller said a number of alternatives to booking hotels are being considered. One is for new reception centres such as one being planned in Ontario’s Peel Region, which would provide front-line services, food and temporary shelter for about 1,300 asylum claimants each month.
The planned reception centre, partly funded by IRCC, would offer up to five days of temporary shelter, legal aid, help with health and social issues and other types of settlement referrals and support the Greater Toronto Area.
In its most recent budget, the federal government allocated $1.1-billion over three years, starting in 2024-2025, to municipalities and provinces to meet the rising cost of housing asylum seekers through Ottawa’s Interim Housing Assistance Program. The program is designed to prevent homelessness among asylum claimants.
Provinces, especially Quebec, and big cities such as Toronto have been complaining about the cost of providing accommodation for the growing number of asylum seekers, some of whom have been living in homeless shelters or on the street.
Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $750-million to Quebec to help deal with the influx of asylum seekers that the province says has been putting pressure on housing, education and health care.
Before MPs went home for their summer break, MPs on the Finance Committee voted against proposals in the government’s omnibus budget bill to toughen up Canada’s asylum regime and speed up the processing of refugee claims.
NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs voted to quash the government’s proposed asylum reforms, including the suspension of refugee proceedings if the claimant is not in Canada.