Finance committee  Thank you. The first recommendation is that we believe the federal government needs to increase its spending on its federal homelessness strategy. In 2013 it announced a five-year extension, but it froze the funding. We know that most of that money, 80%, goes to 10 large munic

Finance committee  We certainly think the housing and homelessness needs across the country are different. They're different in Vancouver from what they are, for instance, in a small community in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and different again in downtown Toronto, where I happen to live, from

Finance committee  There is an opportunity. I am not an expert on the structuring of financing, but there are actually some interesting practices. Also we know in the United States and the U.K. there have been some interesting practices I think we can bring forward.

Finance committee  Thank you. In more recent information since our brief was prepared, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports that the number of new non-profit homes funded by the federal government in 2013 was 546, which is the lowest since records were started in 1978, and the number of

Finance committee  Thank you very much. My name is Michael Shapcott. I'm with the Wellesley Institute. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I want to speak about another dimension of Canada's infrastructure, our housing infrastructure. I recognize that when housing is raised as