Yes, they are coming to an end. Most of these programs were commitments of 35 to 50 years. The 50-year commitments are the older ones.
The concern we have is that there was no plan in sight, no clear thinking at the public policy level on what's to be done, if anything, to continue to make sure these housing providers can offer reduced occupancy charges, reduced housing charges, to low-income households. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that so many of the low-income households and housing cooperatives are not households that are capable of readily improving their income situations, because they're typically fixed income. They might be seniors, frail elderly, disabled.
Unfortunately, the silence that's coming from government right now on a policy around succession planning for this is introducing an enormous amount of anxiety into these households, where previously security of tenure was a paramount principle of this form of housing.
We are strongly urging government—the federal government but also the provincial governments—to join together with us to see if we can formulate a policy that makes sense financially for the government but also makes sense financially for low-income families.
What's likely to happen, if nothing is forthcoming, is that obviously the affordability will disappear. Low-income households will be forced to spend a great deal of their income, probably the majority of it, on shelter before anything else. That's going to result either in economic eviction or people who are simply unable to pay and co-ops that are unwilling to be cold-hearted enough to put these people out on the streets.
What we're looking at is a real threat to the viability not just of the units that are occupied by low-income people but also the cooperative corporations themselves. So we're very concerned.