Good afternoon. I am here on behalf of the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain, the FRAPRU. It is a provincial organization made up of 160 groups that advocate for housing rights and fight against poverty.
As you know, in Canada and in Quebec, an alarming number of people and families are experiencing serious problems due to poverty and the lack of housing. I won't overload you with statistics, but I will present a few to substantiate what I am saying.
There are more than 700,074 tenant households in Canada who use more than 50% of their income to pay for housing, whereas 30% is the generally agreed upon norm. They are mostly women. Of this group, close to 383,000 tenant households use more than 80% of their income for housing, which of course leaves virtually nothing for other essential needs.
A recent report indicated that about 235,000 people are homeless at some point or other during the year. To this picture must be added the problems of indigenous communities, both in the North — Inuit communities — and those of first nations. I am thinking in particular of overcrowding and the poor quality of dwellings.
I should also mention persons with disabilities, who have particular problems. All of these people and families are to varying degrees experiencing issues of survival and exclusion. This means that their fundamental rights are trampled, and they are unable to contribute fully to the economy and to Canadian society.
In our opinion, the Government of Canada can and must intervene in the next budget to improve the living and housing conditions of these households by announcing, without delay, its national housing strategy; by ensuring, as recommended by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, that that strategy takes human rights into account and is informed by them; and finally, by allocating major investments to this sector. Such investments would at the same time contribute to revitalizing the communities in which persons or families who do not have adequate housing or are homeless live, and there would be considerable positive economic spinoffs.
According to Quebec Housing Corporation calculations, based on its own experience with its social housing program entitled “AccèsLogis”, every subsidy dollar granted by the government generates $2.30 in the economy. These are investments that have impacts.
I will now list our more concrete proposals.
We would like to see an additional long-term investment of at least $2 billion per year in housing, allocated specifically to social housing.
It is noteworthy that the current budget of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — aside from three exceptions due to particular circumstances — has not been indexed since 1993. It has remained at $2 billion. We feel it needs $2 billion more and that those funds need to be injected directly into social housing.
First, it is important that the investments the government has promised not be dispersed on all sorts of initiatives that do not meet the real needs. We must focus on the only way of financing truly affordable and sustainable housing, which is social housing, public or cooperative housing, or housing managed by non-profit organizations.
Second, the government must immediately renew subsidies for the entire social housing sector at the conclusion of the current funding agreements. This is very important, as financial access to this housing depends on it. We have built this collective legacy, but it may not serve the people who need it most if those subsidies are allowed to expire. Things are moving very, very quickly. In 2015 alone, 22,600 social housing units in Canada lost their subsidy.
This was recognized in the last federal budget, which allocated $30 million over two years to help cooperatives and non-profit organizations to maintain the financial aid they provide to low-income households. That is a first step, but it is temporary, a two-year measure, and only affects a very small part of the social housing stock. Although the provinces are always looking for federal funding, the entire provincial social housing stock, for instance, is not covered by this announcement.
Thirdly, we need massive and recurring investments in the construction and renovation of housing in first nations and Inuit communities, including that of Nunavik, where there have been no investments for a number of years; the people concerned should participate, both in the design and building of these homes.
Finally, as recently recommended by the Big City Mayors' Caucus, overall investments in the Homelessness Partnering Strategy, known as the HPS, should be doubled until 2025 to bring them up to $350 million per year, while respecting the variety of approaches necessary for both prevention and the fight against homelessness.
Thank you, and I remain available to answer questions.