The 2025 provincial budget has allocated over $123 million toward housing initiatives across Newfoundland and Labrador, including $32 million for new affordable housing construction and $26 million for maintaining existing public housing.

Dan Meades, provincial coordinator at the Transition House Association, says the thing which jumped out at him is that the money was designated as a measure under the social determinants of health. He says the best way to improve the social determinants of health is by increasing one’s income. He has been lobbying government for some time to tie income support to the cost of living, but he says it just does not happen.

“If this government is serious about reducing poverty, the first thing they have to do is index income support to inflation. They know it’s a good policy because they have indexed seniors’ benefits to inflation, and that’s a good thing. But if you’re on income support, you’re going to continue to make somewhere around 55 or 60 per cent below the poverty line, and that’s not going to change as inflation goes up,” says Meades.