Co-op housing builds community as well as housing that is affordable not just with deep subsidies for people but for people who live there. It will realize a deeper affordability for those who don't receive subsidies as time goes on. There are reports from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada that prove this. Co-ops really are a great thing.
What co-ops need and what the entire non-market housing sector needs, as well as capital dollars to build and acquire more, is a change in legislation to be able to leverage their own assets in order to not be dependent on just government funds. They need support from government in order to bolster the capacity.
Right now, we're sitting on a few narratives that are very worrisome for me. First of all is that non-market housing especially, including co-ops, is only there or should be supported only because it houses people that the private market will not and cannot house. That's not true. As you know, non-market housing should be available to everyone, and it has its role in the overall market to compete with the private market. These are not ghettos and warehouses for poor people or people with deep needs. That's first of all.
Second of all is that only the private market has the capital and the capacity to build. The non-market housing sector used to have a ton of capacity in the same way that indigenous housing had a lot of capacity. That has dwindled because there has not been proper government investment in the sector and anyone who has talent has moved to work in the private market. We need to bring these people back, and we have a lot of examples—again, in Quebec—of organizations that are brilliant. They have the business acumen, and they are there to build community wealth.
We need to see that culture happening in all the provinces. Mr. Collins talked about Manitoba not having a lot of non-market housing. I know that Manitoba is struggling with their capacity.