Mayors from across Canada, including Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, met in Toronto on Friday to discuss what they call an ‘affordable housing crisis’.

Toronto Mayor John Tory hosted the event, which was attended by big city mayors, including those from Vancouver, Edmonton, and Hamilton, as well as federal and provincial officials.

Vrbanovic told CTV the crisis extends to Waterloo Region, where there is a waiting list of about 3,000 households. He said the wait can be up to three years, and even longer for larger families.

“All three (levels) of government need to work together in order to address the challenges we are facing,” said Vrbanovic. “It’s really going to require significant leadership, particularly from the federal government, working with the provinces and municipalities, as well as a significant investment.”

The need for federal involvement, and money, was a theme at the meeting of The Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Big City Mayors' Caucus.

“Social housing conditions have deteriorated over the last years for all sorts of reasons,” said Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. “We want to change that.”

Ottawa has promised to spend $20 billion over the next decade on so-called “social infrastructure,” but it is still not clear how that money will be divvied up.

“When housing is in crisis, the impacts are real and they are profound, cutting across all ages and income levels,” Tory said during his keynote address. “In Canada, we work hard not to exclude people on any basis, and housing affordability is threatening that core value.”

Last year, Waterloo Region gave The Working Centre, an organization that helps the unemployed and poor, just over $1 million to create up to 19 housing units – money that comes from a joint provincial-federal program that should provide the region with $25 million in affordable housing funding over the next five years.

The number of Canadians currently unable to find affordable housing is estimated at 1.5 million.

With reporting from Alexandra Pinto and CTV Toronto