Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be here.
I would also like to thank the witnesses for coming to talk to us about this important issue of homelessness and housing. They talked a lot about community housing and the importance of social housing. I'm very pleased to hear that.
Mrs. Houle, you wrote a report. There is no mention of the exact number of homeless people or the increase in the number of those people across Canada in recent years, but the Government of Quebec has done that work. In 2018, in terms of visible homelessness, there were perhaps 5,000 individuals in Quebec. Last year, the number was 10,000. So that number has doubled in five years. In fact, it was exactly when the federal government launched its major national housing strategy that the homeless population in Quebec doubled, no less.
At the same time, we have learned from various sources that the federal government is preparing to cut the budget by 3% for the reaching home program, the major national program to address homelessness challenges. The homeless population has doubled in Quebec, but the government is about to announce a 3% cut to the program's budget, probably to please the Conservatives and to go up in the polls. The federal government wants to show that it is in control when it comes to fiscal restraint. Do you think this is really a good place to make cuts when the homeless population is doubling in Quebec?