I agree with you. It's interesting that you've spent years on the front line. That resonates very closely to my heart. It's where I've spent most of my career, too.
One of the opportunities that is part of the mental health and homelessness research demonstration projects, from the money the federal government provided to the commission, is a real opportunity to work with the homeless mentally ill population in five cities across Canada and take a careful look at what approaches work best.
We know, not from research done in Canada but from research done in other countries, that what's called a “housing first” approach has some very promising aspects to it, but it has never been tested in the Canadian context. That's an approach where client choice is what drives the services a person gets, where they are provided with not only adequate housing but also with a variety of health supports and mental health supports and services, so they can become functioning citizens.
The early indications are that people who participate in that kind of program can become contributing citizens again and have housing stability and health stability. We're hoping that out of the research demonstration projects that we're doing we'll get some solid policy evidence we can bring to the government that will have recommendations to address exactly what you're talking about.