Thank you. I don't mean to interrupt—if people are watching at home—but because we have very limited time, we try to get in as much as we can.
There was a 2016 housing strategy, and we talked about this in committee too. It's all fine and good to have a housing strategy, and I think your intentions seem good, Minister, but there seems to be a disconnect between the Prime Minister who runs this country and what you are saying here in this committee. On behalf of all Canadians and people who are living in tents, especially in Halifax where the rate just went up 500%, I will say that this is not reaching measured targets.
You got upset with Andrew Scheer, my colleague, because you thought he was playing games. It's not a game. Houses are not being built. I hear your empathy. I hear your intention and I hear you trying to say you're going to do things differently, but nothing has happened. I want to point to you in terms of where these operational dollars are going. This is why we talk about having to build homes and not bureaucracy, which is what the Liberal government has done.
There's a youth emergency shelter in my riding. There are 19 family units. These are parents with children and 39 youth on the by-name list in Peterborough, and this is an under-representation. Reaching Home is the only federal homelessness funding they know of. It provides funding for transitional housing amongst other things. They receive funding to cover the cost of one prevention worker. That's where operational dollars are going. When you go downtown in Peterborough, when you go downtown in Halifax and in Ottawa and there are record numbers of people living in tents, that's why. It's because of bureaucracy.
They have a question. I'm here, elected on behalf of Peterborough—Kawartha, and they want to know. I would ask the finance minister how she accounts for the costs associated with homelessness. The costs of shelter plus emergency services are higher than those of providing transitional or permanent affordable housing, so why is she not offering funding to the organizations that are already offering the solution to expand their housing programs? Marcel Lebrun, who runs 12 Neighbours, also asks why they're not getting these funds into their hands quickly.
These are life-changing programs and I hear you, but honestly we don't believe you and that is the problem that is on the ground.
I will leave it with you, Minister, to answer that, because what you're saying and what you're doing are not adding up. We saw that today in the House of Commons, with the Prime Minister, who said he is sorry but they're not going to change anything they're doing.