Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that I'm joining you today from my home in Toronto, the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.
I'm pleased to have the chance to speak to you today on behalf of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
I want to acknowledge the Auditor General's report and show my appreciation for her very important work. We concur with the findings and recommendation and with Infrastructure Canada's response to the report.
Along with Infrastructure Canada, we're committed to providing meaningful reporting to Canadians on the investing in Canada plan and to finding ways to improve our reporting.
Under the investing in Canada plan, we are responsible for $32.8 billion of government investment in various programs over 12 years. Through these programs, CMHC has committed funding to almost 22,000 projects in communities from coast to coast to coast. Those benefiting from these projects include individuals and families living in some of the most vulnerable situations.
Because of these projects, more seniors have suitable homes where they can safely age in place; more low-income families have affordable community housing; more women and children fleeing violence have safe shelter and more on-reserve communities get access to much-needed renovation and upgrades to their homes.
CMHC has taken great strides in recent years to transform itself to become a much more agile company. We've also become much more client-focused and responsive. Over the past year, we've made many adjustments to our national housing co-investment fund, reducing the length of the application process by over 50%. As a result, we've seen much stronger uptake on this program, which means a much greater pace of construction of affordable housing.