Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses here and online for joining us in this conversation as we're trying to get this right with Build Canada Homes and solve the housing crisis.
We've been implementing the national housing strategy since 2017. We have had some really good successes. We've built hundreds of thousands of homes through the programs that were led by CMHC, yet we find ourselves here today, and too many people still cannot afford to buy or rent a place that is decent. That is primarily because the stock of affordable housing is not sufficient. Four per cent is about what we have. It's the lowest in the OECD, and we need to take bold action to focus on that.
With everything that's been said, maybe I'll start with you, Mr. Ross, and then I'll hear from the other witnesses.
Do you agree that the key focus should be to increase the stock of affordable housing? I will quote what Mr. Lyall just said, which is that we need to do whatever it is we need to do. Do you agree that creating an agency that is focusing solely on that, that has all of the financial tools at its disposal and works with industry to get us there, might be a good thing to try now that we've tried so many other things?