Thank you, Chair.
Good evening, Minister. I want to thank you for taking time tonight, and I want to also thank you for the great work that you and your department are doing for all Canadians.
Minister, one of the biggest challenges and frustrations I've faced as a member of Parliament in my riding of Saint John—Rothesay is the fact that 1,500 people are on a wait-list for affordable housing. That number continues to grow year after year. To me, that's not acceptable because housing is a human right. That's why I've been advocating for unprecedented federal investments in affordable housing since I was first elected on HUMA in 2015. This advocacy and the work I've been able to do with you and my other colleagues here tonight has paid off in spades with the introduction of our national housing strategy.
I've consistently heard positive feedback about the investments we've been making in affordable housing, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, from affordable housing proponents in my riding. Both they and I are eagerly awaiting an agreement from the Government of New Brunswick to implement our groundbreaking Canada housing benefit in our province.
Minister, there's still a lot of work for us to do. We need more direct federal investment in affordable housing and that's where the co-investment fund and now the rapid housing initiative come in. Since the announcement of the rapid housing initiative I've been working closely with Develop Saint John and proponents to help get the applications in. We're extremely excited about it. I've heard much positive feedback from them so far on the program.
Minister, I know we've had some issues with the barriers to applying for the co-investment fund in the past, so I'm wondering what you've seen in terms of demand for the rapid housing initiative across the country.