The federal government has been engaged in a homelessness strategy since the late 1990s. The only way that the federal government could proceed using those funds would be to be more directed in the way those funds are spent, not simply for more shelter but in other directions as well. For example, some of the cities have moved in the direction of housing first. The Mental Health Commission of Canada had an experiment on that and strongly recommended moving more in that direction. That would be one way—using those funds and directing them more to the social services connected to the shelters being built at the local level.
On October 20th, 2016. See this statement in context.