To close, we want to emphasize the short-term and long-term benefits of social housing by sharing with you the words of a manager of a deep-subsidy social housing provider in Winnipeg who serves indigenous families. He says:
We have some deep subsidies, we depend on those deep subsidies. Our tenants depend on those subsidies. When operating agreements end, the only way to exist is to raise rents. To raise rents, we become landlords, not social housing providers.
For this housing provider, the difference between being a landlord and a housing provider is a bit of understanding. He has a mandate to work with tenants to make rental payments. In the most extreme cases, some families take all month to cover their rent.
This understanding is key. He says:
Social housing providers make room to maneuver. I think families need that. And they need help here in the city because not everyone will give them that chance.... I see so many families come and go and grow. People come in as single young mothers who go to school, get a job, they work.
Successful tenants move out, he says, when their RGI rents get too high, but not everyone is that successful. He says:
We see families that do not experience that kind of growth, but they become part of the community. They are still on assistance, but their children have a different view. Their children are established in a house. They are not changing schools every six months.
We want to leave you with that as you develop a poverty reduction strategy, because we'd like the committee to remember that there are both tangible and intangible benefits to safe and stable housing. Poverty is often intergenerational. Access to good, stable, and affordable social housing is the best way to tackle intergenerational poverty.
Thank you.