That's absolutely right, Mr. Ste‑Marie.
I want to take a moment to thank you for inviting me to speak with the committee.
We believe the public funds that have already been set aside should support non-profit housing. Halfway through the national housing strategy, which covers 10 years, $40 billion has already been allocated to various housing initiatives. If that money had been invested exclusively in social housing, Quebec and Canada would have thousands more social housing units. The outcome would be measurable. We would have already seen progress towards increasing the percentage of social housing in the rental housing stock.
The government has invested in a range of initiatives that prioritize overly expensive private housing, with little to show for it five years into the national housing strategy. That's why we hope that, in the next budget, the government will reallocate the remaining funding for the strategy to the construction of social housing.