Thank you for your question.
We saw another example in Montreal this week. A housing project funded by a rental housing loan program was announced. However, the rent for these units will be much higher than the median rent in the neighbourhood, which was Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. People in the community and the media are always surprised when housing units are announced that the federal government describes as affordable, and then we learn that rents will exceed the median rent in the area.
Despite the many criticisms, since the strategy was announced, some programs have continued to use affordability definitions based on the income of all households, not just renters, resulting in exorbitant rents that have no connection to the reality of tenant households. It's therefore urgent to review the affordability criteria.
Of course, if we want housing to be truly affordable, we can't think that it can be done with a minimal government contribution. However, social housing, in its various forms—co‑ops, public housing and non-profit housing organizations—is the only way to guarantee the sustainability of investments and housing in communities. That changes everything, because these investments are sustainable, whereas, when we invest in so-called affordable housing that isn't really affordable and that's built by the private sector, the only people who end up putting money in their pockets are the developers. These are investments that we think are poorly targeted and serve the collective interest less well.
That's why we think that in the programs that come out of the strategy, it needs to be clear what funds are earmarked for the non-profit sector. I'd even say that we have to make it very clear that we're talking about social and community housing. We also need to make it clear how important it is that funding be accompanied by governance rules that allow communities, municipalities or tenants, in the case of housing co‑operatives or other formulas, to control the situation and ensure that there is no change in vocation.
So language is extremely important. That's why we've been saying for years that we need to stop talking about affordable housing. We feel we were heard a bit in the last budget, but now time is running out. It shouldn't be the smallest part of the billions of dollars invested in housing by the federal government that goes to this sector, which is the only one acting as a bulwark, as I explained earlier.
It's clear—