'We have to talk housing,' say Waterloo region MPs as they return to Ottawa

As he prepares to return to Parliament on Monday, Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice has one major issue on his mind.

"We have to talk housing," Morrice told Craig Norris, host of CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

"There's nothing that is more pressing in our community, nothing that is defining and will continue to define our community more than the housing crisis that we're in," he said.

"We need to see all levels of government stepping up and doing more. And that includes the federal government."

Morrice, one of two Green party MPs in the House of Commons, said he plans to work with colleagues in other parties "to see real progress getting made."

Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger said she's been hearing "affordability issues" are top of mind for people in her riding, and that includes housing as well concerns about the economy.

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced ways his government planned to address those issues, including removing GST from construction of new rental apartments and plans to sit down with grocery chain CEOs to discuss rising food prices.

Chagger said the housing crisis is more than a decade in the making and that it will take all levels of government to address it.

She said the federal government can't build housing, "but we can definitely make investments to ensure that units are not only put up but that they are affordable. And that happens by working with provinces as well as municipalities."

Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis says helping municipalities like Waterloo region deal with creating more housing, while also addressing homelessness, are on his radar as he heads back to Ottawa.

"All you have to do is drive around in our communities to see that homelessness is there. It's in front of us and you see those numbers that are increasing," he said, noting he received a report last week from the Region of Waterloo looking at the issue of chronic homelessness in the community.

"That report and what we're hearing on the ground, in Ottawa as well, is it's about working collaboratively. We need the federal government, we need provincial governments, we need the region, municipalities, and the private and not-for-profit sector all working together."

Louis said homelessness and increasing pressure on local shelters from people including refugees and asylum seekers, "is very much on the radar" and something he plans to raise with his colleagues.

Morrice says he wants to see more federal government investment for affordable housing in the region.