Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses.
These are not only major issues, but also complex ones for those who may be watching today's proceedings. The situation is more or less the same in every Canadian city. It's a problem in Quebec as well. It was just featured on the midday news, in fact. Vacancy rates have never been lower, while prices continue to rise. The housing out there is not meeting the needs of an average family with children.
I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that we are still adopting a supply and demand mindset. In other words, if we increase supply, costs will come down. I don't think that reasoning is entirely valid. We saw supply grow, and yet, costs continued to rise.
As I recall, the $4‑billion in new funding is spread over five years, so all of that money is not being invested now. On top of that, the fund does not set out a definition for affordability, which I see as a major shortcoming. It's important to define what is affordable.
How can this new fund truly meet the needs? What conditions need to be put in place to meet those needs? In my view, we need to do the following things: keep growing the supply of social and community housing; clearly define affordability; and, above all, determine the proportion of funding that will go towards so-called affordable housing.
What do you think, Mr. Pomeroy?