Human Resources Committee on June 15th, 2026

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Is there resistance, at the provincial levels, to this kind of thinking?

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

Yes.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Okay. Thanks.

I'm sure you don't want to name names, but I'd be curious to know more about it. I'm assuming the resistance is, maybe, a lack of understanding of what we really need to try to do here. Is that fair?

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

I think there's a lack of understanding, in general, around homelessness, but, yes, that is part of it: seeking control and seeking to control the operations on the ground. Ontario's model is weird because of the service manager role, so we're different from everywhere else.

However, when you do see a local community take the reins and take the leadership.... Again, Alberta is the strongest for this, but, in my opinion, they're about to backtrack, because they're changing the funding structure with Reaching Home. Those communities ganged up, got together and said, “We're going to have common outcomes across the seven major cities,” and they've seen the greatest success in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. Villeneuve, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thanks very much.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome all the witnesses and thank them for joining us. They really help us do our work.

Mr. Bonner, you're from my riding, Brome‑Missisquoi, which is next to Ms. Chouinard's riding. Our ridings overlap and Highway 10 isn't going to fix the issues we're dealing with.

What's the main barrier to finding a sustainable way out of homelessness?

[Frédérick Bonner]

I think the work we're doing on transition is yielding fantastic results. This period can vary in length depending on the complexity of the person's situation. There's a phase where someone settles in at the Auberge and finds safety there.

The challenge in a person's journey is housing affordability and accessibility. That's really the challenge we have as an organization when we start looking for housing for one of our residents. It's not simple, and our residents tend to use different methods to find a place to live. More and more are working on flat-sharing projects, for example.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Early on in your opening remarks, you talked about complex journeys.

Could you give us a little more detail on that?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Being new to the Auberge, I took the time to talk with my colleagues about the previous reality.

Our residents face multiple issues, which means their situation won't be simple to resolve. We have to take it one step at a time. For us, it's about successively building on small successes to allow someone to redefine themselves. You can't solve issues like substance abuse, addiction and debt in a short period of time.

I'll give you an example. An average stay at the Auberge is about 110 days. Administrative challenges are very complex for someone who's been homeless. It's going to require a lot of adjustments, for example. We therefore spend a lot of time with the person to guide them to the services they'll be able to get, even if it means going with them to the various resources to maintain a relationship of trust.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Brome-Missisquoi and Memphrémagog are mainly rural or semi-urban areas. When we talk about homelessness, we often talk about big cities. I think the challenges experienced in Magog, Cowansville, Farnham and Granby are different from those in big cities.

How can the federal government better adapt programs to the realities of the regions?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Program flexibility is very important for us, because it allows us to innovate based on the needs of our residents. Program consistency is also an important factor.

Earlier in my opening remarks I talked about know-how. One of the challenges in a region like ours is labour shortage, so it's very difficult to recruit. Our stakeholders are slowly developing extremely valuable expertise we would never want to lose. It can take up to three years for someone to master their role, so I would say maintaining skills is essential for us.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

How do you think homelessness has changed in the region in recent years? That intrigues me.

[Frédérick Bonner]

We talk about rapid growth, not including hidden homelessness.

I won't hide the fact that we had to develop new tools. It's kind of a new thing. We're all learning, and the key is to maintain a continuum of services. In recent years, particularly thanks to the funding we got, our goal has been to partner with emergency resources, which gives each player an optimal position.

There was an adjustment phase, but now the steps for each of our organizations are increasingly clear, which enables the person to see a simpler path.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

I only have a few seconds left.

Quickly, do you think federal investments in affordable housing have a tangible impact on your clientele?

[Frédérick Bonner]

I heard earlier about non-market housing. Like it or not, affordable housing is the solution, yes. Most of our residents rely on last-resort assistance, so housing affordability is essential to the rest of their journey.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for joining us today.

Ladies and gentlemen, every day, you're trying to change the lives of those who don't have what is considered an essential need, which is housing and being able to get off the street.

Ms. Kobussen, Mr. Chan and Ms. Burkholder Harris, thank you very much for your remarks. I don't know if Mr. Thiessen is still here, but I also thank him for his remarks and for sharing his experience on the street. It was very moving.

I'm going to turn to Mr. Bonner from Auberge sous mon toit.

Mr. Bonner, I don't think you had time to finish your opening remarks.

Is there anything, a conclusion or anything, you prepared and didn't have time to deliver?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Thank you, honourable member.

What I could say is we've noticed that the journeys are less and less linear. I think that's a strong trend. Almost 33% of our residents come back to Auberge sous mon toit at some point in their life.

I would simply say that it's important for us to welcome them, but above all to give them another opportunity to take a few steps forward.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

In your third observation, you talked about better support for the transition. I think that's when you talked about the waiting room idea. I read about this idea in a Granby Express December article entitled “Tribune libre: quand la rue devient une salle d'attente”.

Can you explain what that means?

As you say, sometimes people have to come back to your organization. They need support during the transition; they need support as they move forward.

Could you come back to the continuum of services that absolutely must be provided to successfully reduce homelessness?

[Frédérick Bonner]

In this article, we tried to transform the words of someone who's come a long way here, at the Auberge. They referred to the street as a waiting room, and I found that very, very difficult and very moving. I think the fact that there's no number is very telling. You don't know when your turn will come.

We've seen it since we've had a waiting list. That's what makes the process difficult, particularly for our stakeholders who have to say no or ask someone in a vulnerable situation to wait.

Without a number, it's very difficult to look ahead.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

It's very difficult to look ahead. These people need help, and you're working very hard to provide them with beds.

We met in January because there was some uncertainty about renewing a program for encampments. In the end, the program was renewed. I know it's appreciated, but I'd like to know what this program represents in terms of the number of beds and people you can support in your organization.

Also, what consequences could this kind of uncertainty have had on a resource like yours?

[Frédérick Bonner]

We're proud to say that in 2025-26, the 20 rooms we have were open all year. We're all very proud of that. It's taken a lot of work, but it's a huge success for us.

Thanks to the Reaching Home program, for example, we were able to keep four rooms open. Basically, when we got a positive answer, it was as if we'd been given a bit of breathing room. Otherwise, the wait time would have gone from three to six months to five or eight months. That would've been unbearable for our team. That represents four bedrooms for us. There are funding uncertainties, and we can't close these rooms overnight. It's never easy for the team.

Thanks to these rooms, we've had many small successes in recent years. I think we need to slightly redefine what constitutes a success. Over the past few weeks, we were very proud to go and visit someone at her home. She's now living in low-income housing after spending some time with us. We're always very proud of those cases.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I also visited the rooming house, and I can say your project is still part of that continuum of services perspective. It's really impressive.

You talked about your needs. In one of the solutions you propose, you talk about the uncertainty of project-based funding and the need for predictable funding. When the minister appeared before the committee, we talked about the future of the Reaching Home program after 2028.

You also need resources. In Shefford, in the Haute‑Yamaska region, organizations talk about the fact that Granby is not a designated community, which means it can't access all the resources.

Based on your discussions with the other resources helping the homeless, who benefits from the Reaching Home program? What issues do you raise regarding designated communities?