When we look at the health economic analysis of the benefits of housing versus some of the counterfactuals, it is over $50,000 a month to be in hospital and nearly $15,000 a month to be in the provincial jail system, which has in many ways acted as a de facto mental health system, as people can access care and support there. That has been evidenced so powerfully today. It's around $7,000 for a shelter and less than $5,000 for supportive housing.
The cost calculus is really clear. I referenced “The Public Housing Dividend”. In some of the modelling that Scotiabank and partners put forward for investing in social housing, their projections are that there would be a reduction of over 500,000 hospital bed days over the next 10 years, and 147,000 emergency department visits would be avoided.
There's a real economic argument there and, as you mentioned, the human dignity piece that we've heard about so powerfully today. From an economic and cost-effectiveness perspective, I hope that seeing the major banks and the many different partners and communities make this case for so many years has more resonance.