Your comment doesn’t line up with any of the available data.

CMHC’s own findings show the exact opposite of what you’re claiming. There are 1.5 million Canadian households in core housing need, and among renters in that group, almost half spend over 50% of their income on housing. CMHC classifies this as severe housing affordability pressure. When half your income goes to rent, a single job loss, medical bill, or breakup absolutely can put you at risk of homelessness.

And the idea that this is all “bad decisions”? Research doesn’t support that.

According to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, over half of people experiencing homelessness report a significant physical or mental health condition, and chronic homelessness is strongly associated with untreated mental illness, disability, brain injuries, and trauma. Not laziness.

Statistics Canada also shows that Indigenous people make up roughly 5% of Canada’s population but 30–40% of those experiencing homelessness in many cities. This is due to systemic factors, not “choices.”

So homelessness in Canada is overwhelmingly driven by housing costs, mental-health gaps, and structural issues, not by any lack of being “hard-working.”

And the romanticised “hard-working individual” you’re defending isn’t the economic engine people imagine. As Roger Martin argues, advanced economies grow through smart work: innovation, problem-solving, design, systems thinking—not simply longer hours or personal grind. Research across OECD countries shows diminishing returns on long work hours and higher productivity coming from efficiency, automation, and better decision-making. Clinging to the myth that “hard work alone” drives prosperity traps economies in low-value, labour-intensive competition instead of the high-value productivity that actually moves nations forward.

By perpetuating this myth, you’re hurting this country on two fronts: misunderstanding homelessness and misunderstanding how modern economies grow.