As a part of the Department of Finance's Pre-Budget Consultations in advance of Budget 2026, SPT put forward the following recommendations with a focus on income supports, housing affordability, and other poverty reduction measures. Submissions closed on September 8, 2026.
Summary of Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Strengthen equitable income security and poverty measurement
Recommendation 2: Advance a rights-based approach to housing and strengthen pathways out of homelessness
Recommendation 3: Implement an End Child Poverty Supplement targeted to families with the lowest incomes
Recommendation 4: Protect and expand the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care program (CWELCC)
Recommendation 5: Expand and fully implement the National School Food Program
Canada is facing a growing affordability crisis, marked by rising poverty rates, worsening housing insecurity, and persistent inequities that continue to leave many people behind. Poverty has increased for three consecutive years, signalling an erosion of the progress achieved through earlier investments in income security and poverty reduction. At the same time, escalating housing unaffordability, food insecurity, and barriers to stable and decent work are making it increasingly difficult for individuals and families to meet their basic needs.
These challenges are not experienced equally. Indigenous and racialized peoples, people with disabilities, newcomers, migrant workers, and households without permanent resident status continue to face disproportionately high rates of poverty and economic insecurity. Budget 2026 presents an opportunity to renew Canada’s commitment to poverty reduction through investments that strengthen income security, expand access to affordable housing, support children and families, and address systemic barriers that prevent many residents from sharing in the country’s resources and prosperity.
Detailed Recommendations
1. Strengthen equitable income security and poverty measurement
People with disabilities continue to experience disproportionately high rates of poverty in Canada. According to Disability Without Poverty and Campaign 2000’s 2025 Disability Report Card, 16% of people with disabilities lived in poverty in 2023, compared to 9.5% of people without disabilities. The introduction of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) was an important step toward addressing poverty for Canadians with disabilities. However, current benefit levels remain insufficient and access to the benefit also remains a challenge. Eligibility is currently tied to the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), which many people are unable to access due to application barriers and eligibility restrictions.
Expanding access to and improving the eligibility pathways and adequacy of the CDB would strengthen income security and help reduce poverty for people with disabilities. The federal government should meaningfully work with people with lived experience of disability poverty to ensure the benefit is accessible, effective, and responsive to community needs.
Canada’s current official poverty measure, the Market Basket Measure (MBM), provides an indicator of whether households can afford a basic basket of goods and services. It does not fully capture the broader dimensions of poverty, including social inclusion, participation in community life, and the resources needed to maintain a standard of living relative to local society. As a result, the MBM can understate the extent of poverty, particularly in periods of rising costs and inequalities. The Census Family Low-Income Measure, After Tax (CFLIM-AT) provides a broader and more comprehensive measure of poverty by assessing whether individuals and families have the resources needed for meaningful participation in society.
We recommend that the federal government:
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Replace the Market Basket Measure (MBM) with the Census Family Low-Income Measure, After Tax (CFLIM-AT), calculated using annual tax filer data, as Canada’s official poverty measure. The CFLIM-AT is a broad, comprehensive, and relative measure of poverty, designed to measure what the Poverty Reduction Strategy seeks to achieve by way of its three pillars: dignity, opportunity, and resilience.
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Update the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Poverty Reduction Act to commit to expedited targets of reducing poverty rates by 50% by 2028 and eliminating poverty by 2031, based on the CFLIM-AT. New targets should be established to reduce the number of people living in deep poverty, defined as 50% below their respective family size poverty line, by one third by 2028.
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Strengthen poverty measurement and accountability by improving the collection and reporting of disaggregated data to better understand the experiences of populations disproportionately impacted by poverty, including children, racialized communities, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, people with disabilities, and those with precarious immigration status.
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Collect additional disaggregated data on children not living in census families to better understand their experiences of poverty and inform policies that improve their well being and economic security.
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Ensure that poverty measurement and reduction strategies reflect the circumstances of families currently excluded from key incomes supports by broadening access to the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) for families with precarious status, helping to reduce child poverty.
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Implement Campaign 2000’s recommendations to improve the Child Disability Benefit, beginning with immediately doubling the amount of the CDB, followed by creating a caregiver benefit modelled on the COVID-19 Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, and working with families and caregivers of children with disabilities to ensure the benefit is providing the help that recipients need. The government should ensure the benefit is adequate, refundable, accessible to workers and those with low incomes, have expanded criteria, and leads to ending disability poverty.
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Reduce barriers to the Canada Disability Benefit by automatically enrolling people who receive the Disability Tax Credit, removing application fees and certification costs, establishing a single accessible application process for federal disability benefits, and setting clear processing and approval timelines.
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Expand CDB eligibility beyond the current DTC framework to better recognize diverse types and conditions of disabilities and base eligibility on individual rather than household income, supporting financial independence and safety.
2. Advance a rights-based approach to housing and strengthen pathways out of homelessness
Canada continues to face an escalating and persistent housing crisis, as ownership costs and rents continue to outpace incomes. Limited supply of deeply affordable and supportive housing places adequate and stable housing out of reach for many Canadians. The affordability gap is widening with even the lowest-cost units remaining unaffordable for many households and rents often increasing after units turnover. Renters are particularly impacted, with many struggling to afford housing while meeting other basic needs.
Homelessness also continues to worsen across Canada, with 58% of communities reporting an increase in their Point-in-Time count of homelessness since 2023-2024. Indigenous and racialized communities, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, youth and people with disabilities experience disproportionate rates of homelessness and transitional housing use. Canada needs a dynamic National Homelessness Strategy focused on preventing, reducing and eliminating homelessness aligned with other federal investments, including the Canada Housing Benefit (CHB). The CHB has helped to address housing affordability for some households; however, inconsistent program design and administration across jurisdictions, insufficient funding, and an unclear accountability framework has constrained its impact. With the CHB also set to expire in 2028, as many as 330,000 households could be at risk of losing support in the absence of another program or extension.
Housing pressures are further exacerbated by the financialization of housing, which increasingly treats housing as a commodity rather than a fundamental human right and social good. The National Housing Strategy (NHS) has introduced several initiatives, such as Build Canada Homes, the Housing Accelerator Fund, and increased investments in Indigenous housing. However, the inconsistent application of a human rights-based approach, combined with limited accountability mechanisms across programs undermine efforts to holistically address housing affordability and homelessness.
The federal government should meet its obligations to housing as a human right and enhance existing programs and initiatives through a clear and robust monitoring and accountability framework. This includes prioritizing protecting existing and building new deeply affordable non-market and supportive housing, repairing and maintaining existing housing stock, establishing sustainable funding that leverages non-governmental financing, strengthening tenant protections, implementing measures for market rent control, and preventing and addressing homelessness.. A coordinated, long-term approach is needed to ensure housing policy advances Canada’s commitments to the right to adequate housing and prioritizes those most negatively impacted by Canada’s housing crisis.
We recommend that the federal government:
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Establish an explicit process, timelines, and a robust monitoring and accountability framework to implement a human rights-based approach across all programs and initiatives. Prioritize those with the greatest housing needs, accelerate investments in deeply affordable and supportive housing, and meaningfully involve people with lived experience of homelessness and housing precarity in program design and implementation.
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Lay the foundation for a national housing benefit standard based on the design of Manitoba’s Rent Assist program, as proposed by Maytree. This involves the development of a permanent, entitlement-based, portable housing benefit that provides low-income renters with the difference between 30% of their household’s income and 80% of the median market rent for the required unit size in their province's most populous region.
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Increase investment in the Canada Housing Benefit and commit to multi-year funding agreements until a permanent national housing benefit system is designed and implemented.
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Establish and implement a national homelessness strategy within the National Housing Strategy and expand the Reaching Home program, ensuring they are grounded in the human right to adequate housing and recognizing that people experiencing homelessness are among those furthest from having this right realized.
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Strengthen tenant protections and establish mechanisms to regulate market rents by applying anti-displacement strategies across federal housing and infrastructure programs and initiatives, increasing investment in the Tenant Protection Fund to $30 million over five years, and strengthening the Blueprint for Renters’ Bill of Rights with clear national guidelines on rent regulation, vacancy control, and eviction prevention.
3. Implement an End Child Poverty Supplement targeted to families with the lowest incomes
Invest $5.2 billion to create a non-taxable Canada Child Benefit End Child Poverty Supplement (CCB ECPB) targeted to families in deep poverty. As proposed by Campaign 2000 and modelled through the Alternative Federal Budget process, the supplement would provide a maximum additional $8,500 per year to a family with an earned income of below $19,000, with scaled reductions for additional children irrespective of age.
Despite longstanding federal commitments to reduce child poverty, progress has stalled. Child poverty has increased for three consecutive years, to 18.3% in 2023 based on the Census Family Low-Income Measure, After Tax (CFLIM-AT). This represents close to 1.4 million children living in poverty across Canada. Poverty rates are now approaching levels seen before many of the gains made with the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit, signaling that existing income supports are no longer keeping pace with rising costs and growing economic inequality.
The End Child Poverty Supplement would strengthen income security for families with the lowest incomes, helping to reduce the depth of poverty and improve financial stability. The supplement would also advance Canada’s poverty reduction objectives by lifting approximately 477,000 children out of poverty and significantly reducing poverty rates among those who remain below the poverty line.
We recommend that the federal government:
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Introduce a new non-taxable End Child Poverty Supplement to the CCB, providing up $8, 500 annually to families with incomes below $19,000, with scaled reductions for each additional child regardless of age, as proposed by Campaign 2000 and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ recent Alternative Federal Budget 2026.
4. Protect and Expand the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care program (CWELCC)
The next phase of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Program (CWELCC), should expand access to affordable child care while ensuring long-term sustainability of the system. This requires stable operational and capital funding, expanded access to affordable spaces, prioritization of public and non-profit service delivery, measures to support workforce recruitment and retention through living wage compensation, benefits, professional development opportunities, and improved working conditions for child care workers.
Affordable child care remains one of Canada’s key poverty reduction and economic inclusion strategies. Reducing child care costs and increasing access to licensed spaces supports access to employment, particularly for women and families with low-income. Since its introduction, the CWELCC program has improved affordability for many families, but challenges remain in meeting demand and fully realizing a universal early learning and child care system.
We recommend that the federal government:
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Fully fund the next five-year phase of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program, including dedicated operational and capital funding, to ensure that the vision for $10-a-day child care is achieved. In Ontario, the average cost currently sits at $19 a day.
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Ensure that the CWELCC program is built in line with its core principles: expansion must occur through public and non-profit services, affordable parent fees should be delivered through a universal approach, supply-side operational funding should be put in place, child care workforce issues must be addressed, and commitments to high-quality child care must be upheld.
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Strengthen the child care workforce through recruitment and retention strategies, including living wage compensation, benefits, professional development opportunities, and improved working conditions.
5. Expand and fully implement the National School Food Program
Double annual federal investment in the National School Food Program from $200 million to $400 million and establish a pathway toward universal access to nutritious school meals for all children and youth. Increased funding should support both program delivery and the infrastructure needed to ensure high-quality school food programs can be delivered in communities across Canada.
Food insecurity continues to rise in Canada, placing increasing pressure on children and families. In 2023, 2.5 million children lived in food-insecure households, while the number of children experiencing severe food insecurity has doubled since 2019. Rising food and housing costs continue to strain household budgets, making it more difficult for many families to consistently access nutritious food.
The National School Food Program is a key investment in child well-being, educational outcomes, long-term health, and poverty reduction. While Budget 2025 made the program permanent, it remains far from universal and currently reaches only a portion of Canada’s school-aged population. Sustained federal investment is needed to expand the program, reduce financial pressures on families, and ensure all children and youth can learn, grow, and thrive with access to nutritious food at school.
We recommend that the federal government:
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Increase annual investment in the National School Food Program from $200 to $400 million, establishing a pathway toward universal access to nutritious food for all children and youth. Funding should support both program delivery and infrastructure required to ensure high-quality school food programs across Canada.
Conclusion
The 2026 federal budget should renew Canada’s commitment to poverty reduction by strengthening income security, advancing the right to housing, supporting children and families, and investing in accessible and universal school food programs. These investments are essential to reducing poverty and improving affordability, and they are also investments in Canada’s long-term economic prosperity, helping more people participate fully in school, work, and community life. We call on the federal government to urgently take the necessary action to reduce poverty, improve affordability, and the standard of living, and build a more affordable and equitable Canada where everyone can thrive.
About Social Planning Toronto
Social Planning Toronto is a nonprofit community organization dedicated to community development and social justice. Our organization conducts social research, policy analysis, community capacity building, and resident engagement to reduce inequities. We strive for an equitable, inclusive, and accessible Toronto—shaped by the diversity of its residents and rooted in social and economic justice.