First, the strategy is to get as many units off the market as possible over the short term. To do that, funds are needed.
Second, we can wait for two, three or four years. We've acquired buildings in the past, and it took 20 years to make them into subsidized housing.
Funding must be available to get through the transition period, which can be quite long. Right now, in Montreal, it's mostly affordable housing units, for which the rent is lower, that we want to take off the market—I will use Mr. Barndt's logic—and they will sell at a price that will significantly raise market rents. Currently, low-rent housing units are being acquired by people who find a way to evict residents and raise the rents by $200, $300, $400 or $500 per month. The problem is that, if they're on the market—because they are on the market in these cases—funding must be negotiated and maintained to make up the difference in rent, which will not be enough to cover operating costs, as though they were on the market. For instance, suppose rent is $500 more per month, $200 or $300 is needed per month to cover that difference in costs. Prices in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver aren't the same, but the logic is the same.
As for our rents, an affordable three-and-a-half room apartment costs $700 or $800 per month. However, if the building is put up for sale, that unit will then rent for $1,200. The financing package and analysis will require an increase in funding to get through that period. Over the long term, it will become advantageous. When our buildings are taken off the market—we do it often—the funding is not proportional to the costs.