For clarity, this is data that compares the total number of existing units under $1,000 a month with the number of units built under affordable housing programs for each city. Certainly, Kitchener-Waterloo has the highest number. In part, that's because of the change in the number under $1,000. Many units have moved to above $1,000 a month. Also, the number of units that were created in Kitchener-Waterloo is less than in other cities. That's how the ratio comes out of it.
Absolutely. Many of these units still exist, but they exist at higher rents, because there's very strong pressure on rental markets thanks to high levels of demand coming from both new immigration and the fact that folks can't afford to own, so they stay in the rental market. That puts pressure on the rental market, as well.
We have these pressure points on the rental market pushing up rents in a regulatory environment that allows vacancy decontrol. When units turn over, the rents can go up quite dramatically. We see monthly data from rentals.ca of rents going up 15%, 18% or 20%, year over year. That's the key issue creating the affordability crisis. We need to take a look at temporary vacancy rate and decontrol mechanisms. However, as I said earlier, that's not a federal jurisdiction. It's a provincial jurisdiction—one the federal government can only ask the provinces to take a look at.