The federal government’s 2026 budget offers $11.2 billion to tackle homelessness over four years, starting next year, and $17.8 billion over 10 years.

Federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson was in Vancouver Sunday highlighting the plan.

“To do this, we are making historic investments to supportive and transitional housing,” Robertson said.

“That is the best solution, the most critical solution, but also strengthening services at a community level, preventing people from becoming homeless.”

But advocates say this plan is far from realistic.

Jean Swanson is a volunteer with the Carnegie Housing Project and a former Vancouver city councillor. She says the plan misses the bigger picture.

“I don’t think homelessness will be ended with this plan in the budget and this approach,” said Swanson. “We also need to get governments to work on ending poverty and the financialization of housing.”

She says the focus needs to be for housing to be built so someone can have a home, not so that someone can make a profit from it. She also challenges the way people see homelessness in general.

“They’re framing homelessness as a mental health issue, instead of an issue of housing being too expensive or a human rights issue which I think is a problem,” she said.

“Homelessness causes people to have mental health issues, to use drugs.”

Robertson says delivering the plan will require all-around support.

“That means bringing all levels of government, partners, home builders, front-line service providers who help get people off the street to come together to the table to make it happen,” he said.

The first step is already underway in Winnipeg. Ottawa partnered with the Manitoba government and the city to help build more than 2,000 new supportive and transitional homes and a new Winnipeg Centre for Mental Health and Addictions.

Swanson says the plan’s success here will depend on a similar kind of collaboration.

“It’s going to rely on provinces to come in with operating costs, and I don’t know if our Conservative government here in B.C. is going to be doing that,” she said.

But some elected officials are showing their willingness to work together to help tackle the crisis, including Vancouver Granville MP Taleeb Noormohamed and Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum.

“We’re here to work together, this is a signal that we are all willing to work together, and that work begins today,” Noormohamed said.

“I hope everyone will work continuously for the next four years to help the homeless,” said McCallum.

Despite Swanson’s skepticism over the plan, she says B.C. should take all the help it can get.

“Any unit of housing that runs for $500 a month helps,” she said.

“We desperately need them. People are on the waitlist for ten years, some of them.”