In Quebec, when we fund a project, we say that we're building it to last 100 years. Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily what happens, and there are lots of other factors that result in the loss of so-called affordable housing units. One active solution that I think sounds great was implemented in British Columbia. It's the new acquisition fund that the federal government just announced. That's a first step worth considering.
In terms of the longevity of the housing stock, one of the main problems is that, when an organization obtains funding through a government program, it doesn't have access to its capital. I believe that's also the case for organizations that were created not so long ago. No private developer would accept that if they're building rental housing in a lucrative market. That can get some organizations in trouble five or 10 years down the line if there are problems with the construction or the structure of the buildings. I've seen that and experienced it first hand. I haven't always worked at the national level; I've also worked in our regional network. This problem can make it difficult for organizations to remain sustainable, to stay afloat. Sometimes we have to work with the Société d'habitation du Québec to save organizations that should have been viable on their own, and that's hard.
The next issue is the aging housing stock and older organizations that were created under previous programs. It can be hard for them to get funding to renovate their buildings. This is another problem that has a number of causes. Every time we lose a unit, we have to build two new ones if we really want to maintain our housing stock.