Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the minister for coming to the committee today.
What we're doing is not working. The market-driven lens that we're putting this through isn't working, and we're losing affordable housing at a rate of 15:1 in this country. We can never catch up with what we're doing right now. It's like trying to go up a downward escalator the wrong way. We are never going to get to the top.
My question for the minister is on REITS. Right now, REITS are acquiring rental buildings, which we mentioned are needed and that developers don't necessarily want to build. REITS are acquiring buildings that offer affordable rent and then demolishing them. Studies have shown that we are losing these housing units so quickly, and we're failing people. Would the minister support a moratorium on REITS until we fully understand the impact on people of taking away their housing in communities?
I want to share that in my community, REITS are now going after stable housing for seniors and persons with disabilities, and they have nowhere to go. Minister, I have been in the homes of single moms of children with disabilities and seniors who are asking me to find them long-term care homes to go into. They've been tricked by these developers into believing that they need to get out, even before rezoning has happened.
I want to understand. How are we going to protect affordable housing? If we're losing it at 15:1, we are never going to catch up.