Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for welcoming us to the work of the committee and allowing us to highlight the importance of housing in the budget planning exercise.
I will make my presentation in French but will happily answer questions in English or French.
Let me start by introducing ourselves. My name is Éric Cimon. I am the Director General of the association. I am joined by Aurélie Macé, who is in charge of training.
The Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec, or AGRTQ, brings together 25 technical resources groups that serve all of Quebec. Technical resources groups are businesses in the social economy that have grown up as more than 83,000 cooperative or not-for-profit housing units have been established. This represents more than half of Quebec's entire supply of social housing. They are also involved in many community real estate projects, including multi-use community centres and early childhood centres, CPEs, or daycares.
The AGRTQ is also the trustee for two funds, a Quebec acquisition fund, valued at $20 million, providing bridge loans for the purchase of land and property, and a social housing fund, with $20 million in patient capital, which is used to buy and renovate properties in order to transform them into community housing. Those funds are capitalized by the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ and the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, among others.
Technical resources groups have been the key to the development of housing projects for more than 40 years. We are at the table through all the stages of bringing a housing project to fruition, from identifying the needs as the projects move forward, through the completion and financial strategies, overseeing the site and forming groups, to the financial and property management.
Technical resources groups are the key to projects because they bring together all those involved locally: municipalities, elected representatives, working groups, health networks, housing committees, organizations and institutions. Technical resources groups act as catalysts in completing housing projects to meet the varied needs of the most vulnerable.
We are proud that we have helped to provide a unique development model that has inspired other areas of the social economy and that has been exported to other parts of the world.
We would first like to stress how significant it is that the federal government is funding housing once more. It was absent for 20 years, but establishing the National Housing Strategy was warmly welcomed. This is first because of the very principle that the government is contributing leadership, and investing in order to solve a major problem, but it is also because it is developing a strategy with long-term thinking and planning.
It takes time to develop housing and to involve communities, especially the more vulnerable ones. The National Housing Strategy is most welcome because it has set objectives and mobilized people to attain them. To that end, it is providing funding over a very long time.
Housing is becoming an important, not to say urgent, issue all over the country. For some years, cities and municipalities have been systematically adding housing to their priorities. Let us not forget that shelter is at the base of Maslow's pyramid, just like food and clothing. When families are in good housing at an affordable price, their food and clothing gets better. While we see the increase in food banks, we unfortunately do not make the direct connection with community housing as a permanent solution to the problem.
Budgets for housing are not only a cost item, they are also a long-term investment. They also result in savings in the areas of health, education and public safety, to name but three. Let us not forget that a lack of affordable housing puts a brake on economic development and that community housing is an amazing solution to the labour problem, especially in the regions.
The National Housing Strategy calls for major investments in housing, reaching $55 billion over 10 years. While this is a lot of money, and a clear indication of the importance of housing, it is my sad task to tell you that it is not enough, for two main reasons.
The first is because of the need. According to the last census, in 2016, Canada had 1.2 million households with pressing housing needs, including 309,000 in Quebec alone. So 1.2 million Canadian families are living in housing that is too expensive, too small, too unfit, or that simply does not meet their needs. In addition to that number, there are all those who uproot themselves from their villages to search for the answer to their housing needs in larger centres. This has become a real issue in land occupancy all over the country.
They are also human tragedies, especially for the seniors who are uprooted from their environment, which they have built with passion and enthusiasm, to be brought to the major centres. None of you, as a member of Parliament or as an individual, can accept that your fellow citizens cannot obtain health services. None of you can accept that your fellow citizens cannot have access to an education system.
So why would we accept that in 2020 in Canada, over one million families will be without adequate housing? This is a very important basic need. The national housing strategy calls for the creation of 125,000 new housing units over 10 years. You will understand that, without massive additional investments, it will take several decades to successfully meet current needs. And the needs are growing.
There is a second reason why the strategy is not enough, and it is that our programs, whose conditions are legitimate, are unfortunately not supported by the money needed to meet them. Let me explain. The government is showing leadership and consistency in its housing programs by asking for legitimate and laudable conditions to be met, namely universal accessibility, energy efficiency measures and greener construction. We fully support these measures. However, their application increases the cost of projects and, by the same token, jeopardizes their completion or increases the price of rents.
The government requirements—