Thank you very much.
I want to turn to a different issue: the Canada housing benefit.
The Canada housing benefit is clear in that it is meant to target people with the lowest incomes. However, the government changed the criteria. On the government's own website in November 2020—and even as late as December 27—it did not say that people on social or rental assistance who are having their rent paid directly to the landlord would be excluded from this program. This was added, I think, around February 3. Consequently, people now applying are no longer eligible.
Why is the government excluding people on income assistance and disability from being eligible for the $500 housing benefit? When was this decision made, and by whom? Why was this only posted on the government's website in February? The overriding question is this: Who is this housing benefit for, when the government is intentionally excluding the lowest-income people? It's not that they aren't qualified because of their income. They're not qualified because their rent is paid directly to the landlord, as a result of the program they're in—it's usually income assistance.
Why is that?