Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you for joining us.
Mr. Trudeau didn't do you any favours by appointing you Minister of Housing. How did you react? We're experiencing a brutal housing crisis. It's extremely serious. You've said that we need to build 5 million housing units, while the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, CMHC, estimates that we'll need to build 3.5 million units by 2030. That's a monumental undertaking. In Quebec alone, 1.1 million units need to be built. The private sector is expected to build 500,000 in Quebec, though forecasts for this year have now dropped. So it will likely be a little less than that, but to achieve a certain balance, we'd need to build 600,000 housing units in addition to what the private sector is going to build. It's a massive undertaking.
I've just returned from visiting one end of Quebec to the other. I went to Gaspésie, Abitibi and Lac-Saint-Jean, and I witnessed tremendous distress. One of the stated goals of the National Housing Strategy in 2017 was to reduce chronic homelessness by 50%. It was in writing. Since then, the number of homeless people in Quebec has doubled. According to the latest count, from October 2022, there are 10,000 visible homeless people in Quebec, and everyone involved told me that this is likely just the tip of the iceberg. I was told that housing needs were so urgent that people were no longer finding their way through this massive strategy, which is not having its intended effect.
Let's talk in concrete terms. A year and a half ago, we passed a budget that included a $4 billion fund to accelerate housing construction. It's a funny name, by the way, because after a year and a half, this fund to accelerate housing construction hasn't built a single house. It's quite peculiar. You are currently negotiating with the Quebec government. There are $900 million at stake and, in Quebec City, I'm told that the Quebec government could add another $900 million. That's quite significant. It would mean a total investment of $1.8 billion.
In Quebec City, I was also told that the provincial government would like these negotiations to focus on real housing construction rather than zoning-related standards or improvements. I'm not saying those aren't important, but I'm told that the Quebec government's priority is to move quickly on housing construction to take concrete action.
What is the status of these negotiations with the Quebec government on this $900 million, Mr. Fraser?