The mandatory long form gives us the vital information so that we know where housing needs are across the country. It's the basis for establishing core housing need.
I do want to say that while there's a general view that the $2.1 billion in the 2009 stimulus budget for affordable housing was not enough, it was actually very welcome at the same time, as was the $1.4 billion the federal government put into housing in 2006. Both of those were welcome. But one of the things we want to know is, what impact has that spending had? I'm sure everyone, and I think the government members too, based on their observations in this report, would like to have that information. It's accountability for results.
The way we measure results is by having these data sources over time. So if the core housing need goes down, because the government has actually been making investments in housing, and we think it actually should and would, then we actually have proof there's accountability for results.
So it's not just about assessing need and identifying where the issues are, but also about measuring government initiatives and their impact on communities. So for both of those reasons, it's very, very important to carry forward.
Core housing need, defined by Stats Canada, is a basket of measures of the standard of housing, overcrowding, and affordability, all combined together. Because it's based on the long-form census, we're able to get into local areas as well as getting a national picture of it. Therefore, you can actually target housing to the particular needs of local communities. In some communities, affordability is a bigger issue. In other communities, it may be repair or the standard of housing, or it may be issues of overcrowding. All those issues can actually be addressed very effectively, and then you can measure, after the fact, the accountability for the results. These are very important public policy tools that the long-form census allows us to use.