Think of the housing system as a ladder. When we don't have enough housing at whatever level of the ladder—when we have this overall housing shortage—it's definitely going to be worse for people near the bottom of the housing ladder. You get trickle-down evictions as people are looking for a place to live. If you don't have enough market housing, they move down the ladder. I heard a terrifying quote: “Shelters are gentrifying.” It used to be that shelters were for people who were indigent or not employed. Now we have people with jobs who are sleeping in their cars. This is in the Vancouver area. I think it's definitely a problem.
I would say that B.C. is pursuing an all-of-the-above approach, and the federal government has also been helping. B.C. takes the lead, and the federal government then supplies funding. There's a B.C. builds program that B.C. is doing, using public land to provide middle-income housing, with 20% lower-income housing. The federal government is matching it. It's $2 billion from B.C. and $2 billion from the federal government.
There's a complex care housing program aimed at people with the most need. They might have drug addiction, mental illness or brain injury. They don't just need housing. They need wraparound supports.
B.C. is also acquiring older, cheaper rental housing that will be operated by non-profits. This is basically turning market housing into non-market housing at the lower end. The federal government has set up a program similar to B.C.'s