Evidence of meeting #22 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was benefit.
A video is available from Parliament.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
I have a tiny bit of time left, so I'm going to ask one more question, on the rapid housing initiative.
The government's response to my recent Order Paper question seeking clarity on the rapid housing initiative's project stream was unhelpful. With the exception of Quebec projects, the city and even the province of all projects was redacted.
During her appearance before the committee on February 4, Ms. Romy Bowers, senior vice-president at CMHC and future CEO, indicated that the government was on track to meet its RHI objectives. Is this still the case? Will all funds be allocated by March 31? How many units have been funded so far? Will CMHC commit to providing the committee with a complete unredacted list of the funded projects? Is the government planning a second round of funding for the project stream of the rapid housing initiative in its upcoming budget, if we ever see it? If so, could the details be provided to this committee in advance?
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
We are well past time. There is no time left to allow for an answer to that question. If whoever is the appropriate person can provide us with an answer subsequently, that would be helpful, so that we don't shortchange the other members of the committee.
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
2:50 p.m.
Kate Young London West, Lib.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will be sharing my time with my colleague MP Han Dong.
Minister Hussen, it's good to see you again. I've had the good fortune of being on Zoom with you a number of times over the last week, and I appreciate you and your ministry officials joining us for the meeting today.
Last week, you virtually visited the city of London, where I represent the people of London West. You made a major housing announcement—over $40 million to repair over 2,000 affordable community housing units in the city of London. All of the units will target vulnerable populations, including people who experience homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, people with disabilities and people experiencing domestic violence.
I think this is the biggest housing announcement in London in decades, and this speaks to how important the national housing strategy is for our government. But we need partners. I think you would agree that the City of London has been a great partner for these projects.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Yes, absolutely. I have always said, and so has parliamentary secretary Adam Vaughan, that to meet and hopefully exceed our housing targets under the national housing strategy, we cannot do it alone. Yes, the federal government will bring leadership and resources, and a lot of the time the lion's share of the investments, but we need local partners as well to join us in our efforts to deal with these issues. The City of London is an example of that.
These 2,100 units will be repaired and rejuvenated, and will become more energy-efficient, saving the city and the housing authority more money. At the same time, this project will provide a better quality of life and a better housing experience for the residents of those units.
As we build more affordable housing fast, as we direct more help immediately to people through the Canada housing benefit, we must not forget to preserve, rejuvenate and renew the existing housing stock.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Kate Young Liberal London West, ON
After the housing announcement, we held a round table discussion with a number of housing stakeholders, including community housing advocates, who were very supportive of what we were doing and what we were putting into place, but they were critical of the provincial government, in Ontario specifically.
I know this has been a problem in other provinces. I wonder what you take from this and whether you foresee the provincial government coming on board and ensuring that the investments we make will go even further.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Absolutely. Again, in order to maximize and leverage the federal investments through the national housing strategy to build more affordable housing across the country in provinces such as Ontario, we also need the provincial partners to step up and provide the wraparound supports that are necessary for some of the residents of those future units.
In this way, you can see—for example, through the rapid housing initiative, the co-investment fund and other housing programs—that when municipal governments, non-profits, but especially provincial and territorial governments step up and provide the wraparound supports, then we're able to stretch those dollars and really create comprehensive housing that meets the needs of different populations based on their needs.
March 16th, 2021 / 2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Thank you, MP Young.
Minister and deputies, welcome to the committee.
Minister, can you give us a quick update on the rapid housing initiative? In particular, can you speak to the uptake of the program in urban versus suburban versus rural areas?
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Yes. I think this has been an amazing program, a cutting-edge program that is incredible and has lived up to its name in terms of rapidly moving dollars to address the housing crisis in Canada. It is our government's response to the housing challenges that have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When we talk about rapid housing, we're not just referring to the housing being built quickly, but also to how quickly we've been able to conclude agreements with both cities and proponents, and also hopefully to make sure that the money is spent as well as committed very quickly.
In terms of the split between rural, urban, suburban and northern, I'll turn it over to Mr. Siddall to provide that context.
2:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
We'll provide a specific breakdown after the fact. The major city stream, of course—the half billion upfront—is urban-weighted. The project stream tends to significantly benefit indigenous communities, which tend to be rural, but I'll give you a more specific breakdown in writing.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Thank you very much.
Also, I want to talk about the Canada housing benefit, which is very important to provide support for newcomers, low-income families, indigenous people and veterans. Following what MP Young was saying, I know that for this particular program there are provinces that have not signed on to it. In your view, what's the holdup? Why don't we have all the provinces signed up to the Canada housing benefit?
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Actually, most have. I think the Province of Quebec is the only one that hasn't signed—and, I believe, one more—but most of the provinces have signed, the latest being the Province of British Columbia, where we signed the Canada-British Columbia housing benefit to the tune of $517 million.
The first province to join us in this housing benefit was Ontario, at the beginning of last year, in January. That program is worth $1.46 billion, cost-shared between us and the Province of Ontario.
It is a very deep benefit because it targets certain populations—women and children fleeing domestic violence, people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of experiencing homelessness, and others. We're talking about a very deep benefit that enables people to transition from long-term stays in shelters into independent rental units, and also enables those who are starting to pay their rent to be able to stay in their homes.
3 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
Thank you, Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Dong.
Ms. Chabot, you have six minutes.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, we are glad to see you here. I thank you for your availability.
You spoke in your opening remarks about the importance you place on the security of the citizens of Canada. You are well aware that earlier this week, for the second time, the CRA had to block the accounts of 800,000 citizens because of serious security issues.
Can you assure us that all measures are in place at Service Canada to protect the records of citizens who have an account there? Have you increased security measures?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Thank you very much for your question.
I will turn it over to Ms. Lori MacDonald to answer that question.
3 p.m.
Lori MacDonald Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada, Department of Employment and Social Development
Thank you for your question.
Mr. Chair, in fact we've put a number of procedures in place over the course of this summer as a result of security concerns we had in terms of accessing personal information. We're pleased to say that we actually introduced a new multi-factor authentication system—a two-factor authentication system—to ensure that the personal information of Canadians accessing our services is even more secure than it had been in the past.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
I'd like us to talk about the Service Canada performance report. You know that the Auditor General recommended that Service Canada publish call centre performance information service standards in a transparent and consistent manner and audit the results to confirm their accuracy. You were to govern yourself accordingly in the short term.
Was all of this put in place?
Also, in your earlier testimony, there was some discussion about flexibility and the impact of the closure of the Service Canada call centres and mobile service centres. I think it is only appropriate that that not happen again.
Where do you stand on the performance report?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Thank you for your question.
I will rely on Ms. Lori MacDonald again to answer that question.
3 p.m.
Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada, Department of Employment and Social Development
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your question.
I'm happy to say that over the course of the past year we've actually put two new services in place to augment...our vulnerable populations where we have not been able to re-establish the site visits. We hope to do that this year, once some of the guidelines have been increased in terms of access to travel and so on.
These two measures include two new alternative service delivery models to reach those more vulnerable populations. One is called “e-service”, where clients can actually go online, fill out a form and send it to us, and we respond within 24 to 48 hours. We've actually reached many thousands of Canadians with this new service.
The second measure is through eCOLS, which is where we've used third party intervenors to support us and rule in northern communities to support particularly indigenous communities for service. That's a toll-free number where a Canadian can call the toll-free number—and we actually return their call as well—and we do all of their services for them online. This is also a system in terms of their being able to remain safely in their homes. Those two services are actually augmenting the service that is not available through the travel program.
In terms of the call centres, I'll turn to my colleague Cliff Groen. As Minister Hussen indicated, we have invested significant amounts of money in augmenting our service call centres this past year, including hiring up to 1,500 additional staff.
[Technical difficulty—Editor] to address some of the issues that were in place.
3:05 p.m.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Thank you.
I would now like to turn to the rapid housing initiative.
As you know, this was supposed to be quick. In the second part of this project, applicants had until January to respond. Yet they only recently received a response to their application. Many of them are concerned that their project may not see the light of day.
What is happening with this project?
Will [Technical difficulty—Editor] their project be turned down because of the department's tardy response?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON
The rapid housing initiative is a special program that our government introduced to respond to the housing challenges that have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Out of the $1-billion program, the first $500 million went to the 15 municipalities in Canada, including a number in Quebec, that have the highest number of individuals experiencing homelessness. The remaining $500 million was dedicated to projects in municipalities, provinces, indigenous governing bodies, as well as non-profit organizations.
The reason the timelines were a little tight was that we wanted to make sure the money got out quickly so that we could address the challenges on the ground with respect to people experiencing homelessness.