I want to highlight the important point that the honourable member raises with respect to the Canada housing benefit. This is a game-changer because it is a portable support for rental payments for people with severe housing needs. It is not tied to a building or an apartment. It will do a lot to deal with all the folks who are on housing wait-lists.
In terms of the rapid housing initiative, I'm equally very excited for the second envelope, which will help non-profit organizations, provinces, municipalities, indigenous governing bodies and groups to apply. We aim to disburse that money through CMHC very rapidly, so it's not just that the housing will be built or provided rapidly, but we also expect those dollars to flow as quickly as possible and be committed before the end of this fiscal year, March 31, 2021.
It is proceeding well. We hope to get as many projects as possible from all corners of the country, including in the north. I believe the rapid housing initiative is a great example of the federal response to the feedback that we've gotten from many folks on the ground, who were saying that we needed to deliver housing solutions that provided supports to those who have been displaced by COVID and to those whom we have helped through Reaching Home dollars, to provide temporary shelter and then move them to permanent housing solutions through the rapid housing initiative, in addition to the other streams in the national housing strategy.