Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank this committee for inviting me here today.
On any given night, tens of thousands of people in Canada experience homelessness. It’s a complex issue that requires a collaborative approach. An approach that accounts for the many factors that can result in a person experiencing homelessness. These can be purely economic factors, but often they’re also tied to health and addiction issues. When we speak about people being made vulnerable to homelessness, this is what we’re talking about. It highlights the breadth of the response we need to muster.
CMHC leads Canada’s overarching National Housing Strategy, or the NHS, which includes Reaching Home, Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, led by Infrastructure Canada.
CMHC also delivers programming under the national housing strategy that supports the housing needs of vulnerable populations, including those experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness. These programs are delivering real results.
For example, the rapid housing initiative specifically targets those most in need through the rapid creation of housing units. More than 2,500 housing units for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are currently being built with funds from this initiative.
The federal national housing co-investment fund supports the creation and renovation of affordable housing. Among its achievements, it has yielded over 3,700 shelter beds, 3,500 supportive housing units, and 1,600 transitional housing beds, so far.
Addressing chronic homelessness is a multi-faceted issue requiring support across all levels of government. CMHC and Infrastructure Canada recognize that reducing homelessness, including chronic homelessness, requires clear accountability, alignment of federal initiatives, and cross-jurisdictional support and efforts.
Therefore, we are ready to act on the recommendations in the audit work to more closely support the achievement of this objective. This includes further defining and analyzing the housing needs of vulnerable populations, and measuring how our programs are meeting those needs.
I believe it is very important to take this opportunity to point out that CMHC follows rigorous and strict governance and accounting principles in the delivery of its mandate. CMHC knows which population groups are targeted at application, and has a process in place to ensure that the units remain targeted to those households over time. We will continue to offer Canadians timely, clear, and transparent reporting that tracks spending and identifies recipients.
We have already created a website dedicated to the national housing strategy, which includes a regularly updated section reporting progress. This data is, however, limited by the fact that the programs are ongoing and that construction projects take time to be completed.
We are working on various initiatives, including a project in partnership with Statistics Canada, to access more comprehensive administrative data about those being housed in NHS units. In doing this, we carefully consider privacy implications of collecting data on vulnerable populations.
We are always seeking ways to improve our reporting, just as we welcome all ideas that can help to solve the problem of chronic homelessness in Canada. We believe the recommendations in this audit report can help us do both.
I am heartened to see that the audit’s recommendations reinforce and strengthen our commitment to close collaboration and to a human rights-based approach to housing. These are the central pillars of CMHC’s approach to addressing housing need.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the Office of the Auditor General for this report. We agree with its recommendations and appreciate their guidance.
Thank you very much for your time today. I would be very happy to answer any questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.