Finance committee  For decades, a decrease in the use of taxation as a tool to redistribute wealth has been observed. But to fight both poverty and homelessness, we have to turn to that again.

Finance committee  Thank you. This is a very relevant question. Homelessness and poverty are not simply a housing problem, but housing is key. What is being done in Saskatchewan is interesting. No matter the kind of measures used, incentive or coercive, to bring contractors to build affordable hou

Finance committee  It's a...

Finance committee  The role of Canada's National Secretariat on Homelessness is to promote dialogue, but it could be doing more in this regard. We would like the government to increase its promotion of discussion around this in Canada. We can learn things from different models. There is some commun

Finance committee  The issue you raise with regard to the increase in homelessness in the United States is entirely relevant. It's been observed in Quebec, as well as in Canada. We're talking about an increase of shelter bed nights. However, these are not bed nights at the Château Laurier or at Châ

Finance committee  The first thing to say is that the federal program, the Homelessness Partnering Strategy, remains useful and relevant. This is a good source of funding, but, in fact, there are problems. The government promised to cut down on red tape, but the management of this program has not i

Finance committee  I don't want to compare the actions of all the provinces. I'm from a Quebec-wide network, but I know about some of the things happening elsewhere. As I said, co-op housing is a way to help people who are in deep need or who are in the streets. Non-profit housing, which is anothe

Finance committee  In Quebec, when the federal government got out of the financing of social housing in 1994, the government, first the Parti Québécois—but then the Liberals did also go on with it—created their own program for social housing, co-op housing, and non-profit housing. It has proven tha

Finance committee  The economic plan of the government between 2009 and 2011 did direct money for social housing. In the province of Quebec the money was used to make some new co-ops. As you pointed out in your questions, social housing or co-op housing is one of the ways to prevent homelessness, b

Finance committee  Ladies and gentlemen committee members, my name is Pierre Gaudreau. I am the president of the Réseau Solidarité Itinérance du Québec and the coordinator of the Réseau d'aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal. We would like to thank you for hearing us on issues relat