Canadians welcome immigrants, but cannot see where they are supposed to live, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“Participants said their communities need to plan for accommodating more immigration and more permanent residents,” said Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) researchers in an in-house research project. .“They pointed to a variety of things they saw around them today that they felt were not working well and need to be addressed, including housing shortages.”.Housing worries followed the highest immigration quotas in Canadian history. .Cabinet’s latest immigration levels call for 465,000 people in 2023, another 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025. .The researchers said most participants “felt new immigrants make their community a better place to live, expressing an appreciation for cultural diversity, for learning from and about new cultures, and the fact this was ‘the Canadian way.’” .Canadians questioned the feasibility of housing another 500,000 immigrants every year. .“Gaps identified included more support finding housing,” said the researchers. .One focus group participant said immigration levels were “too much, too fast.” Another participant acknowledged he did not want more immigration because Canada is in a housing crisis. .A third respondent said people are living on the streets because there is no housing. .“We need to get our own house in order before we welcome anybody else in,” said the respondent. .A 2022 report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimated demand was short of supply by 400,000 homes every year. Current stock numbers 16 million condos, townhouses, and single-family houses. .“We project that over 22 million units will be required to achieve affordability,” said the CMHC..Former immigration, refugees, and citizenship minister Sean Fraser said in 2022 record high immigration is needed to fill job vacancies in Canada. .READ MORE: Liberals say immigrants desperately needed to fill jobs.“Before the Omicron variant hit us at the end of the year, there were 965,000 jobs available in Canada,” said Fraser. .“We cannot fill those jobs with a domestic labour force.”.Findings were based on 18 focus groups nationwide. IRCC paid Quorus Consulting Group $119,723 for the research.
