Yes, I'd be happy to, and thank you very much.
Co-op housing, in fact, was nominated by the federal government in 1996 as a global best practice and was recognized by the United Nations as a global best practice. It's a model that many countries around the world admire. Ironically, 1996 was also the year that the federal government decided it was going to transfer virtually all its co-op housing and other national housing programs to the provinces and territories. They've reversed that decision, thankfully. But co-op housing is a good model.
You mentioned the SCPI which is now called HPI, or the homelessness partnership initiative. I love the federal acronyms. It is an excellent program for what it is, because the federal government is in fact an enabler. The program allows the communities to define their homelessness needs, and the federal government provides the tool kit in terms of finance and other supports.
I want to acknowledge that in September of last year the federal government extended for five years the funding for this particular initiative. That's good. The problem is, however, that 80% of the national money goes to 10 large communities, the other 20% goes to 51 other communities, and the rest of the country is out of luck. They basically don't get any money out of that program.
So it's a good program where it works, although I should say there has been a problem with SCPI as well, or HPI now, in that the program dollars are basically the same as they were when Minister Bradshaw first announced the program at Christmas 1999. Essentially, we're dealing with the same dollars, which means there is less.
When I talk about building from the community up, and that's the issue, there's one example I want to give you. You may be somewhat surprised to hear this from me, but the Province of Alberta is actually in the lead when it comes to housing and homelessness supports in the last little while. Seven cities in Alberta got together and created the seven cities partnership of municipalities and community groups. They defined their local housing needs and went to the Province of Alberta, and just a couple of months ago it committed, over a 10-year period, $3.2 billion in provincial funding. In its most recent budget, it put about $500 million down. When you look across the country at provinces and what they're doing, it's quite remarkable how the Alberta government has responded to this community approach. We think that's something the federal government should do.
In terms of the final issue on Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, on page 7 of my English submission—I don't have the French copy, so I don't know the equivalent page in French—we actually track, using the latest five-year projections of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, what they call their earned income, what anyone else would call their profit. That's the money left over after they've paid all their bills. It will rise to almost $2 billion by 2013. That year, the federal government's spending through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on the affordable housing initiative will be $1 million, and I'm sorry to say, although $1 million is a lot of money to individuals, it's nothing to the federal government. It's zero, effectively. The federal government, through its national housing agency, will have an earned income or profit of $2 billion, and only $1 million of that is scheduled to be put into the affordable housing program.
So your comment is absolutely correct. We do have significant resources within Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation that can actually be put into a national social housing program and other national housing and homelessness initiatives.