Evidence of meeting #31 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 indigenous.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Chad Collins Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Thanks, Ms. Hayward. I appreciate that.
Chief Michell, you are the only one today who referenced the urban-rural divide. I didn't completely catch the comment in your opening about the difference and how those two are separated from an investment standpoint.
Could you elaborate on that rural issue you spoke of in your opening comment? I'm sorry I missed it when you referenced it.
Chief, Kanaka Bar Indian Band
Certainly. I'm located in rural B.C. I love living up here, but I can't help but see that everybody wants affordable housing in urban B.C. and urban Canada. Here is rural Canada. We don't have NIMBY as the issue. I want Sarah and Celeste and other people to move here, but if I don't get housing, they're not going to move here.
Rural B.C., in many situations, given transportation and virtual, you can live comfortably in rural B.C. and in rural Canada. That's where your affordability can be manifested. Don't hide behind, “Oh, you're farther away from the suppliers and supplies.” That's an excuse.
I'm just saying that rural Canada is available for affordable housing, if Canadians are prepared to move to rural Canada. That's what I say. Our door is open here.
Liberal
Chad Collins Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Thanks, Chief.
Can you elaborate on what kinds of unique supports rural areas would need over what we typically hear from our urban witnesses?
Chief, Kanaka Bar Indian Band
We need the Internet and cell service.
The biggest challenge in rural B.C., of course, is probably in waste management in the grey waste water that's produced. You'd have to come up with a very good septic system for the larger models, because most of our homes are fourplexes. You could go with densification, but we'd need to have a lot of work on the waste. What do we do with the grey water?
Liberal
Chad Collins Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Thank you for that.
Mr. Gladstone, can I ask about the project you're working on in the city of Toronto? You referenced a number of others that have already been constructed. You talked about the scarcity of land. For the federal government, Ms. Chabot reminded us that it's a $4-billion fund over five years, and the goal is 100,000 new units.
I'm interested in getting at the affordability issue that a number of other witnesses have talked about. Of course, there's that whole issue of creating 100,000 units, so the per-door cost is very important as we look at the math and how we spread this out over a number of years.
What's the best way to go about reducing the per-door cost? Whether it's a contribution of land or some of the fee waivers that you've received from the municipality, do you have a list of investments that you could provide to the committee where we might look at investing the $4 billion to reduce the per-door cost?
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
Absolutely.
The first comment I would make is that we're not looking at government for everything. The community must participate, as well, through local fundraising efforts. I happen to have the numbers handy from the $75-million budget for our new build. As it turns out, it's being built on the lands of existing group homes we had, so we didn't have to repurchase. It took about $3 million to get the land ready, and we purchased a new unit to go with our existing. We're hoping for about $17.5 million from government grants—the provincial and federal governments. The City of Toronto has granted us $5.2 million through its open door program. We will be raising $15 million ourselves. The Frankfort family very generously started us off with a $6-million gift. The CMHC's ultra-low mortgage rates at $34.5 million is how we'll finance.
Though the waiver of development fees and charges is paramount....
I see my time is up.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Gladstone.
Chief Michell, as a rural member of Parliament, I really appreciated your last comments about the uniqueness of.... We cannot overlook rural, small-town Canada in this particular study, and I appreciate my colleague raising that.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing today.
Before we close, I have a reminder for committee members. The decision you took at the last meeting is to come prepared on Thursday with recommendations that will be forwarded to the minister on this very important study. If they could be done in both official languages, it will be easier to deal with them. If we do not get them dealt with on Thursday, we may miss getting them there. Thursday is an important meeting for your recommendations. You have a lot of information before you.
Again, thank you, witnesses, for taking the time to give such compelling testimony to this committee.
Thank you, committee members. The meeting is adjourned.