Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the minister for coming to committee today.
The minister mentioned three pillars today. The top two were financial security and aging at home. I want to talk about the most vulnerable seniors, who are intersecting between not having enough financial security and not being able to age at home. More of them are finding themselves homeless.
Recently, I was out visiting the Lookout Society, which provides a shelter and emergency housing here in my community. More and more seniors need this service. On top of that, I was at a local seniors housing development yesterday. They want to expand their ability to offer housing to seniors. They have put forward some bids for projects in our community. They're finding themselves unable to keep up with the number of seniors in my area of Vancouver who need rent under $1,200 a month, or even $1,400. They'd like to be able to do it, but it just doesn't exist. Minister, my question is around this fact.
The other thing I want to add is that seniors who have gone into hospital and have been discharged have lost their homes because they couldn't afford to pay the rent. These are the things happening in my community in the Vancouver area.
My question is about poverty and seniors. What statistics are being used to measure the seniors living below the poverty line, and how are you going to fix it?