I'll look forward to seeing the numbers and dollars diverted to British Columbia, because the need is real and NGOs are struggling.
There was one NGO, in fact, that could not sustain this to the point where the staff were so stressed about having to turn people away to shelters and so on, they invited them to their homes. Can you imagine front-line staff and workers having refugees go to their homes to prevent homelessness? That is the reality we're dealing with. We don't make the headlines because we don't scream and shout. We try to do this cordially.
I ask both ministers to ensure that dollars are diverted to British Columbia accordingly. I will certainly look forward to that in the 2019 budget.
I'm going to move away from that for a minute.
One of the issues that has been raised at committee by witnesses who have come forward is a better investment in managing the situation, particularly with respect to housing. Their suggestion is that instead of putting the money into hotels, which is currently what's happening, invest that into a long-term plan. In fact, we had witnesses come to our committee, Journey Home, and suggest that we actually build housing, permanent housing, that could be utilized over and over again without having to pay a hotel bill. That proposal has been tabled with the committee. It will be going to the minister, and I believe that there are meetings with the ministers with respect to that from the organizations themselves.
Is that something the government will entertain?