Thank you, Garth.
I'll say a couple of things about the rapid housing initiative. The first is relevant to our discussion today about the mechanisms around how funding is delivered to other orders of government. The rapid housing initiative is a model in that regard, in that it doesn't follow a strict federal-provincial-territorial funding agreement model as so much other affordable housing and infrastructure funding does. It has an element that provides funding directly to municipalities on an allocation basis, based on population and need. That's quite a change from how affordable housing funding has been delivered in the past.
The second thing that's noteworthy is that it's quite an innovative funding model in that it responds very directly to the unique context presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides funding for municipalities, non-profits and housing providers to purchase properties, hotels and apartment blocks that are at a low market value as a result of the pandemic, with the goal of reducing overall operating costs. Municipalities and social housing providers spend a lot of money renting motels and hotels to provide emergency housing for the most vulnerable residents in their communities. Providing permanent housing and in certain cases supportive housing that involves wraparound social and health supports is a proven best practice and is more cost-effective for the taxpayer.
In terms of the need, the federal government has made the commitment to end chronic homelessness, and that is a laudable goal that FCM and our members fully support. It's going to require serious long-term resources and a long-term funding commitment.
The commitment we saw in the recent budget is the right rate of investment, but it doesn't provide the length of commitment that we are looking for and falls short of the overall $7 billion figure that FCM and other housing stakeholders arrived at as a cost of providing permanent supportive housing for the estimated number of Canadians who are experiencing homelessness.