Evidence of meeting #38 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
How are the people informed about how things will work? By that I mean seniors in general. Do we reach out to the boards of directors in each institution?
Senior Vice-President, Regional Operations and Assisted Housing, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
In order to ensure that the funding in budget 2016 for seniors could flow quickly and get to where it was needed in a timely manner, that was done through existing agreements we had with provinces and territories. The provinces and territories have the responsibility to design and to deliver the programs. Given that it was an interim investment for 2016-2018, there was some urgency to make sure the mechanisms we already had in place would get the dollars to those in need quickly. There was interaction with the provinces and territories.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
I was actually thinking about seniors who are not really aware of these programs. Is there a way to provide them with more information so that they can take advantage of these investments?
Senior Vice-President, Regional Operations and Assisted Housing, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
As I said, it's the provinces and the territories that are designing and delivering, and they are the ones working directly with the groups in terms of the seniors housing to construct or renovate housing that's on the ground. Our provincial partners may choose to use some of the funding, particularly the doubling of the investment in affordable housing, for rent supplements or rent allowances. They would be in direct contact with the seniors who are there on the ground in the province or the territory.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
My next question is on another matter, but it is also open to everyone.
As my colleague mentioned, the proposal in Budget 2016 was to allocate $416.6 million over two years, through Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, in order to improve housing conditions on reserve, to reduce overcrowding, and to improve health and safety conditions.
What effect will this housing measure have on poverty on reserve?
Daniel Leclair Director General, Regional Infrastructure Delivery, Regional Operations, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Thank you for the question.
If I may, I will deal with the question from an infrastructure angle.
As you mentioned, $416 million were allocated for specific projects in Budget 2016. Currently, more than 965 projects are under way. That includes renovating 3,220 housing units. The ground is being prepared so that houses and other new buildings can be built.
The funds allocated for the improvement of community infrastructure, housing in this case, will help to provide the basics on which to create a better environment for the members of the community that will benefit from them. Then, the people could be better prepared for the labour market and could see their standard of living improve, in terms of poverty. In other words, improving community infrastructure is directly linked to the improvement of living conditions for aboriginal communities, in terms of poverty.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the groups that have been here presenting today.
My first round of questions will be directed to you, Ms. Scott.
At the conclusion of your presentation, you mentioned a government program or committee or whatever that is chaired by my colleague Mr. Vaughan. Can you explain that to me again? I missed it. What is its composition going to look like, and what is it all about?
Director General, Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
Sure.
Minister Duclos announced the creation of an advisory committee on homelessness yesterday and is now seeking individuals across the country who are interested in sitting on this committee. It's a call-for-nomination process. We're looking for probably up to 10 individuals who have knowledge of the homelessness partnering strategy and have expertise in homelessness or in related areas, such as mental health, to work with us over the next few months to look more closely at the current program and how it's working, to hear from individuals on the ground in terms of, for example, the Housing First approach or to look at specific aspects, such as youth homelessness or prevention measures. That's all in an effort to help us in preparing for the renewal of the homelessness partnering strategy for 2019.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
I understand, then, that if there are people who would fit those criteria, we can present them to you, or to—
Director General, Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
There's an online nomination process. On the ESDC website, there is a fairly comprehensive description of the criteria, as well as an application form for individuals who are interested in applying to be a member of that advisory committee.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Thank you.
From experience, we know that the community entities or the community-based organizations are understandably stretched when it comes to securing sufficient funds to meet their individual community homeless and housing needs normally. One of their biggest challenges is the currently underfunded area of maintenance and repair. I know this gap creates significant wait times and lists of people who need to get into houses or suites that we have but that are not suitable to be inhabited. In some cases, the buildings themselves need repair.
Are there any plans to consider funding reallocations to assist in this area, where we already have housing, but it's just not suitable for occupation?
Director General, Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
Under the current program, communities can use a portion of their funding for capital expenditures. It's true that we do expect larger communities to dedicate about two-thirds of their funds to Housing First approaches and in smaller communities we expect about 40%, but the program does allow for some capital investments, and depending on the funding streams, there's more flexibility. Traditionally communities have dedicated a very small amount of their funding to those types of investments and have turned instead to some of the funds they receive from CMHC for those types of investments. However, it's certainly something that we would be looking at and asking about as we think about the renewal of the program.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Thank you.
I think one of the things to keep in mind on a case-by-case basis is that it might be critical to examine and allow for some flexibility, depending on where community needs are in that regard. It's just a suggestion.
My last question, if I have time, Mr. Chair, has to do with permanent supportive housing. We know that's another gap in our current model.
We all know that the goal of a Housing First concept is to provide stability to individuals in their lives at a time when they need it, and wraparound supports and whatever else that might look like. That intervention will allow them to eventually be on their own again without any sort of supports or cost, potentially.
However, we also know that not everyone graduates from these programs successfully, and some people require some semblance of permanent supportive housing. What funding streams either exist now in your program or are being planned in order to address the issue of permanent supportive housing?
Director General, Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development
Through the existing investments, communities can use the funds provided to them toward supporting individuals in permanent supportive housing, and those interventions include the wraparound services and supports that those individuals, once they are in housing, need in order to remain housed. That's certainly an issue we would be prepared to look at more closely as we consult across the country on what's working and what's not working and where we need to provide more flexibility in our program funding.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Clarke, how do we ensure that on-reserve housing is being built in areas where new water and other infrastructure is also being built, if they are being funded through separate programs?
Director General, Economic Research and Policy Development, Lands and Economic Development, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Daniel might want to follow up on this. I can follow up later on some of the other things you were thinking about.
Director General, Regional Infrastructure Delivery, Regional Operations, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Thank you very much for the question.
My role is mainly to support my colleagues in the region, to support the first nations community members to build infrastructure. In the last budget, we were able to get money for a longer period, so we got money for two years and for a five-year period.
To answer your question, when we build a house, for example, we need to ensure that the water, the road, and all the other infrastructure are there. The key to that is to be able to plan.
By coincidence, this week I was in Shamattawa in northern Manitoba, and that was clear. Colleagues in the region are working with the community members to plan the new house that will be built next year. It is more complex there, because that community is on a winter road, so it's all about planning. It's how to ensure that for this fiscal year we are bringing the material on the winter road, which just opened this week. Then we have to ensure that the road will be constructed and the water line will be there this summer so that when the construction of the house starts, we will have not only the housing unit but also the proper infrastructure surrounding it.
Right now within INAC, we have a group in my team that looks at all of the assets—water, schools, housing, and other infrastructure—and basically works together to ensure that when a project happens in a community, this is all coordinated.
Director General, Economic Research and Policy Development, Lands and Economic Development, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Not every community is the same, and there's differentiation that has to be taken under consideration, so not every solution is going to respond to the circumstances of every individual community.
At the end of the day—and this might also speak to a comment that was made earlier about ongoing repair and maintenance—it really comes down to how the construction and ongoing maintenance of a building is financed. I think right now, through this pay-as-you-go system that we have, we are not looking at the longer-term financing needs or leveraging. We are not looking at what we could be doing through longer-term financing, including taking into account the whole life cycle of an asset. If you just build the thing and then walk away from it, you're trying to fund all these things in a way that's not necessarily coherent to the nature of the asset that you're financing.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
How would this benefit by bringing it under a unified fund?
