I want to talk for a few minutes about housing. Of all the things we've heard over the last couple of years in doing these hearings, the call for affordable, safe, accessible housing comes up every time, over and over again, no matter where you go. That's a huge issue.
Just to let you know, the national and provincial housing ministers are meeting today. They've identified three priorities for themselves in this meeting. They are not hearing from anybody. They are not meeting with NGOs or anything like that. But they said in regard to the timely flow of federal housing money, as you know from reports that were in the media over the last couple of days, that only $68.4 million out of the $1.9 billion that was promised has actually flowed. They are talking about that and trying to figure out why that is, to get at least that $1.9 billion out there and get it spent. Their second priority—and this is interesting in light of what we're doing—is a comprehensive national housing framework, which I think would be excellent if they could achieve that. It would fit into our work.
Let me go to the third point, which is to enhance federal housing and homelessness investments. In my own community of Sault Ste. Marie, the biggest challenge for the folks dealing with homelessness is that there is no core funding. They are spending all their time organizing bake sales and car washes instead of actually helping people find more permanent funding for their homeless. The third priority is to enhance the federal housing and homelessness investment and stop any cuts that might be coming, so that's good news. We always have to be aware of what's going on.
I would suggest that this focus on housing by the ministers is driven by the fact that people are starting to talk about it. People like you are coming forward and speaking at tables like this, and others across the country are speaking up and saying enough is enough; we know what the problem is and we need to address it. So at least the provincial ministers are looking at it, and I'm sure they will be sharing a strong message with the federal minister on this, and at the very least get that $1.9 billion out the door and deal with the federal housing and homelessness strategy.
I'm talking a bit more than I'd like here, but this morning my colleague Mike Savage, from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, the home of Sidney Crosby, was very animated in his passion about the fact that the government, in the statement yesterday, laid out the big deficit that is in front of us, and as he said, it didn't really trickle down at all to the really at-risk and poor. It got stuck at a certain point, and even on that, we're not sure how it's actually rolling out and going into effect. But now, in dealing with the deficit, we're going to target those at the bottom end, because it said very specifically—and you spoke to this earlier, Julian, in regard to the not-for-profits—the not-for-profit sector is going to get hit. It was mentioned in the release that it's a sector that is going to get cuts.
How are we going to deal with that? I know from the meetings I've had with people out there that there are some really well-meaning, hard-working people in the trenches doing the work, running the soup kitchens, running the food banks, and providing the housing as best they can. They're getting tired, they're getting older—except for Tanya here—and they're looking for leadership. They are looking for some help from higher levels of government, and so far it isn't coming.
You used some pretty big words this afternoon: “racism”, “de facto apartheid”, and “social exclusion”. I'm thinking “tsunami”, if in fact this is what the federal government chooses to do, because they've said they won't cut transfers. There are a few things they said they wouldn't do.
It's actually the non-profit sector right now that's doing the work on the poverty front. So could you just give some quick response on that, if you don't mind? Maybe there isn't anything to be said; I'm not sure.
