Evidence of meeting #21 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was supply.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
In terms of federal properties, you said they should be transferred to the community sector. Perhaps I misunderstood, but that is what I noted.
General Manager, Bâtir son quartier
I said the government should lead by example. It should be a model. I think the not-for-profit approach is tried and tested, in terms of affordable housing in the long term.
To my mind, leading by example means federal sites having a large percentage of housing units earmarked for not-for-profit sectors, to ensure long-term affordability. I would not say all units, but a large percentage.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. Cyr and Ms. Chabot.
Ms. Zarrillo, you have the floor.
NDP
Bonita Zarrillo NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm actually going to go back to Ms. Atkey, because I'm very interested in speaking about the rental opportunities and accelerating the rental needs.
I just want to dig a little bit deeper on the short-term rental apps. We know that some of these apps, in all of our economy, are not necessarily regulated so well. I am wondering, with respect to the short-term rental apps, whether your organization has access to data around those app providers for short-term rentals and whether you have any insights in that area as to whether we could potentially unleash some housing units fairly quickly if we addressed multiple units used for short-term rental through an app.
Chief Executive Officer, British Columbia Non-Profit Housing Association
Thank you for the question, Ms. Zarrillo.
We don't have direct access to data from the apps, but I am aware of a number of studies that have explored the impact of short-term rental on the rental market more broadly. Some of the municipal restrictions on short-term rental have been quite effective. I think it speaks to a greater need in terms of, if we're looking at the accelerator fund, the quick wins that may be possible. It relates as well to a point that Abby made around approvals versus what gets built.
In British Columbia we have 10,000 affordable homes that have made it through the municipal approval processes, have been fast-tracked by municipalities and are actually waiting for funding from senior levels of government. That's 10,000 affordable homes in the non-profit sector right here in British Columbia. I'm sure a similar pattern exists right across the country. All of a sudden those 100,000 homes become quite achievable if we have the right programs structured in the right way, so it's looking for those quick-win opportunities.
The challenge with doing that with short-term rental is just being able to do it at scale. It's challenging for non-profits to access those units on a one-off basis. I would rather see incentives and funding in place to get approved housing built out in the next couple of years.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. Zarrillo.
Thank you to all the witnesses for appearing today on this important study.
That concludes the first hour. We'll suspend for a few minutes while we transition to in camera to return to the consideration of the seniors report.
Again, thank you witnesses.
[Proceedings continue in camera]