Thank you so much.
As I said, we're looking at the recommendation of investing in complex care housing. We're requesting that a parliamentary committee undertake a study to investigate the recommendations on the challenges and systemic barriers facing youth who are at risk of becoming homeless, and that this study include youth aging out of the foster care system. As we know, those youth are at increased risk for, and report higher rates of, mental health distress. Take into consideration the long-term economic benefits of investing in youth and support services.
We're also requesting that the Government of Canada allocate 20% of all funding for housing towards youth up to the age of 30, and that a subset of said funding is allocated specifically for youth with complex care needs, up to the age of 24.
We know adolescents need wraparound supports. As I mentioned, it's not as simple as taking an adult system and putting it on top of an adolescent issue. There needs to be adequate programming that takes into consideration the complex and unique needs of adolescents.
We know every single small act we undertake to increase access to protective factors for youth.... When we're talking about prevention and mental health for young people, we're talking about protective factors such as education, sanitation, clean water, housing, employment and transportation. Empower young people and provide opportunities for them to access the supports they need, in their journey and transition to adulthood, in a healthy way that supports their mental health.
We know an investment in young people is an investment in prevention. If we can intervene in the right way at the right time, along the arc of a young person's life, the outcomes can have infinite ripples in our communities. Not only will these things impact the young person, they will also impact their friends, friend's families, aunties, uncles and future children. Investing in the mental health of young people is an investment in our future.