Citizenship and Immigration Committee on July 24th, 2018

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

It doesn't matter how much money you have if there isn't a house to rent.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Okay. I mean, apples and oranges; they say they can't do it.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

We're working with other municipalities. We're sitting down with them—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, but is that all you're going to do, sit down?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

No—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Don't you have any plan for funding?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Yes, and here's the plan. We are working with neighbouring municipalities, identifying housing resources that aren't being currently used, and we—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Which municipalities?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

We have had conversations with virtually every other municipality in the GTA and as far as Hamilton and St. Catharines. We've also had conversations with North Bay and the Nipissing housing authority, which currently has 400 shelter spaces available and is willing to take people.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Is that where they're going to go?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

They are going to be mapped. We are going to map out a housing system over a larger geographic region than just the city of Toronto, and we're going to redistribute the problem with resources and supports to make sure that people are properly housed.

Hotels and emergency shelters are no place for children, and we will not stand by and let that happen.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

You keep saying children. That's a great argument, but the question is—

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

It is a good argument. I'm glad you agree.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

You've repeated it about a dozen times.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

And I'll keep repeating it, because that's where the focus should be.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

The question is this: What are you going to do about it? So far you've said nothing.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

I've just told you. We have sourced new housing sites outside the city of Toronto, and we're providing rent, supports, and additional investments—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Who's going to pay for that?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

The federal government is stepping up and meeting its obligations, but there are also—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

How much money is the federal government going to provide?

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

You'd have to map out the exact problem.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

But you say you've done that.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

What we have done is we've sat down with our partners, got the statistical information and the data, and then modelled our funding to support the cities and the expenditures they made.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

The City of Toronto has said their housing problems are going to increase—

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Your government might cut a cheque for $100 million and then hope they spend it properly, but we do this in real time. We sit down, we collect data, and we meet the responsibilities of the federal government based on the data.