The framing is not where we start. I think most people in Canada want everyone to have a safe roof over their heads. The critical point about how we relieve pressure on the shelter system is to create dedicated housing for refugee claimants.
In fact, refugee claimants experience the same homelessness crisis that many people in Canada are experiencing. The evidence and data show that it is far more efficient in dollars—as well as in terms of lives and compassion—to ensure that there are transitional shelters available for claimants, with wraparound support services built with people who know what these populations need. We've just heard that these populations need fairly specific services.
I have felt in my heart, and have been very moved by, people speaking who run homeless shelters in Canadian cities. They want to provide help to refugee claimants. They don't feel adequately equipped to do it. They're used to dealing with other kinds of unhoused populations. We know that the same dollars spent on dedicated refugee claimant housing can essentially help solve the homelessness crisis by easing the pressure on city shelters. We're spending money far more efficiently there than on emergency hotels.
I actually think it's a false competition. What we need is a smart use of resources so that the needs of populations are met where they're at. That will require dedicated transitional housing for refugee claimants as well as key supports for our city shelters.