Thank you so much for the question.
I absolutely agree that municipalities, in being local, have an understanding of the local needs and have collaborations with the partners that they need to work with for success so they can target programs to needs. So, absolutely, providing funding to the municipalities is very import, but, when doing that, it's extremely important that CMHC or the federal government not put strings on the use of those funds or limits on the use of those funds that restrict the kinds of strategies that municipalities want to have but have not been able to have through CMHC funding and financing.
We need to allow the flexibility so cities can decide whether an acquisition of rental housing program is an important strategy. That's what we want to use here. RHI didn't do that. It came with very strict restrictions on the types of projects that were eligible. It limited municipalities, at least in Toronto here, to having the type of strategy it felt was needed.
In fact, we were working with the municipality prior to RHI to secure a building that the city believed would be a great RHI program. We got an agreement of purchase and sale, but then, when the guidelines were announced, we lost that project.
Please don't tie the hands of municipalities by restricting the use too much. It's important to have some form of restrictions to ensure the funds are used well, but respect the municipalities or the experts with regard to what's needed for their residents.
Thank you so much.