Citizenship and Immigration Committee on July 24th, 2018

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

The data continues to pile up. The City of Toronto—

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

It's changing on a day-by-day basis. There are surges, and then it's subsiding. We have less than 40—

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

Mayor Watson of Ottawa has expressed concern about asylum claimants being brought to Ottawa. My own mayor, the mayor of Orangeville, has expressed concerns about the possibility that our town could be a destination. There doesn't seem to be a lot of foresight by the federal government with respect to this.

I understand you're saying that you are responsible for housing. Does the government have a plan to deal with the housing and this part of the problem?

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

Yes.

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

And will you table that plan with the committee?

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

The plan is not just simply a question of how we house immigrants and refugees. The plan is how we house all Canadians and all people to be sheltered.

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

Will you table your plan with the—

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

It's the national housing strategy, and it has been tabled.

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

When was that created?

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

In terms of the actual policies and the funding, that was created in the first budget, the second budget, and the third budget. There's a $40-billion investment over the next 10 years to build housing.

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

That's a long time ago, Mr. Vaughan.

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

There is a doubling of the—

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

This problem is a serious crisis with all these municipalities now—

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

It's a serious housing crisis—

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

—but what if, and I keep repeating—

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

—and it would be a housing crisis with or without the immigrants and refugees. That's the issue you need to get your head around.

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

You're having a great time interrupting us when we're asking questions, sir. I would appreciate it if you would let us finish asking the question before you start going on and on.

The question is, do you have a plan and will you table it with the committee?

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

I can get the department to leave the national housing strategy....

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

When was the national housing strategy—

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

Last November.

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

What about this year?

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

This year, the national housing strategy had additional dollars put in the last budget to facilitate and accelerate the construction of rental housing right across the country. The national housing strategy is that plan. It addresses the issues and the pressures that the emergency housing system is delivering to the housing system as a whole, and that's our plan.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Fraser, we have about three minutes left in this round.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Mr. Vaughan, you mentioned that the housing crisis in the city of Toronto goes back at least to the 1990s. I'm curious. With the moderate influx of asylum seekers we have seen, how much of the housing crisis can actually be attributed to the arrival of asylum seekers, if at all?

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

Back in 1999, and I'm quoting from the Anne Golden report, about 50% of all refugees, not just the refugee claimants, didn't receive any support when they had their first interview, but were allowed to apply for permanent homelessness. At that point, close to 37% of homeless people in Toronto were refugees and immigrants.

That number has surged in the last year across southern Ontario. London, Hamilton, and different jurisdictions I have been in contact with have experienced the arrival of people almost overnight, sometimes by taxi, looking for emergency shelter. But the housing crisis is not generated by any one single subpopulation. To scapegoat one, or to highlight a different one, or to point fingers at certain subpopulations is not to address the fundamental issue.

The fundamental issue is that, as a country, we are not, and haven't been for a generation, investing properly into the housing continuum and providing the supports and the network necessary to house people efficiently in this country, in particular children.