Finance Committee on Jan. 24th, 2022

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am quite astounded to see my Conservative colleagues so obsessed by the inflation rate, and whether it's 4.1%, 4.8% or 5.1%, when people are freezing to death on the streets of Montreal. People are dying because, in the last 30 years, no one has managed to find them a place to live. Various federal governments have been faced with the problem. It's quite fascinating. Just a few days ago, a lady died because no one found housing for her.

There was an encampment on rue Notre-Dame; people put up tents. A number of homeless people do not want to go to shelters. They want housing but there is none, much less affordable housing. Why are we obsessed with numbers while people, human beings, are freezing to death because we haven't been able to do our job?

I would like to hear Ms. Laflamme speak about the topic once more. The result of the federal government's lack of investment, its lack of commitment, over the last 30 years is that Quebec has developed a social and community approach to homelessness.

Clearly, housing has to be found for the homeless. But if no one teaches them how to make a budget, to pay their bills and to buy groceries, and if they are not provided with psychological support, they will be back on the street in three months. That's a fact. Quebec has developed an approach for this, but it must be funded.

I would like Ms. Laflamme to talk to us about the importance of supporting communities as well as building housing. That would prevent cases like those we have seen in Montreal in recent weeks.

[Véronique Laflamme]

Thank you for talking about the homeless people who have died this year, in Montreal, but also in Toronto and in other places.

This highlights the failure of our social policies, especially with housing and homelessness. Likewise, we see the extent to which the right to housing is intertwined with the right to health, the right to security and the right to dignity. These are basic rights and Canada is committed to uphold them. Now the rights to adequate housing is recognized in federal legislation. We must have that approach in our minds as we deal with housing.

In Quebec, the comprehensive community approach to the fight against homelessness is specifically based on social housing with community support. We are seeing that demand appear elsewhere in Canada. The funding for community housing also includes community support provided by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. This provides a helping hand for the vulnerable and for those getting out of homelessness.

However, the approach also includes prevention. The comprehensive approach to homelessness does not simply address social housing or community support with the housing, it also includes prevention. So it is important to recognize the link between physical and mental health, security and the various needs of people who are homeless and of those who are at risk of becoming homeless. We also have to acknowledge that some live in invisible homelessness, often young people and women.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Thank you, Monsieur Trudel. That is the time.

We are moving to our last questioner.

Mr. Blaikie, I know you teed up your last question. You are the last questioner and the floor is yours.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

I might ask Mrs. Raza about the utility of a fund that might help co-operatives and non-profits. Because they are in such a reactive position with the way the current national housing strategy works, would a fund help them to be able to acquire land and buildings more quickly as they come onto the market? How might that work? What effect might that have on the ability of those organizations to build new social housing?

[Sahar Raza]

Yes, that would be incredibly important. I'll pass this question to Véronique in a moment, but can I just address an earlier question that came up?

We were talking about how we need a change of mindset so that we don't think about just home ownership and so on. I agree to a certain extent, but we can't talk about mindset without thinking about how to actually offer renters and other folks security of tenure.

For example, we know that seniors are some of the people most impacted by homelessness, inadequate housing, evictions and so on. It's all well and good to say, “Oh, just rent; you don't need home ownership”, but what do you do when the income sources stop and pensions are not very strong for most folks across Canada? If home ownership is their retirement plan, we need to think about other issues like that.

I will pass this over to Véronique to speak to the social housing question that Daniel raised.

[Véronique Laflamme]

Obtaining funds specifically for acquiring land and buildings for cooperatives, not-for-profit housing organizations, or even municipal housing services, is an important part of the solution in helping to enhance the supply of social and community housing, which is insufficient at the moment. For example, it helps groups of that kind to quickly buy a rental building that is for sale.

In Quebec, cities have established acquisition funds. Some cities, like Quebec City and Montreal, set aside funds in their budget to buy land to be handed over to cooperatives and not-for-profits. That is one way for cities to become involved. To become even more involved, they must be assured that higher levels of governments will step up and fund those specific initiatives. Setting up a complementary fund specifically for not-for-profit organizations, cities and cooperatives with that goal would be a fine, positive action. It would be another response to enhancing the supply.

Mrs. Chatel was also talking just now about the housing accelerator fund, which the government has announced, but with details that are not yet known. Consultations are currently under way. From what we gather from those consultations, rather than looking at innovation, the fund is supposed to accommodate initiatives and requests that are already known and that communities have already made, as a way to encourage social and community housing.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you so much, Mr. Blaikie. That was a great question.

To all our witnesses, thank you so much for informing this committee with all your expertise on housing. On behalf of the committee members, the staff, the clerk, the interpreters and everybody who makes this happen, we really appreciate your coming before us and informing us for our report on inflation in the current Canadian economy, with the focus today on housing. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. With that, members, this meeting is adjourned.