Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My name is Suzanne Le. I'm the executive director of Multifaith Housing Initiative and the one who's ultimately going to be in charge of overseeing Veterans' House Canada. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee to outline the implications of COVID-19 on our organization's financial health.
The Multifaith Housing Initiative is a charitable housing organization with a mission to provide safe, well-maintained, affordable housing and supports for individuals and families who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness. MHI has a proven track record for the development and successful delivery of affordable housing. We now own and operate 179 units in the Ottawa area, which house between 400 and 500 people.
As you know from your 2019 report entitled “Moving Towards Ending Homelessness Among Veterans”, veterans' homelessness is an issue in our communities. As a result of that report, in June 2019 the government recognized the issue of veterans' homelessness and passed a motion with cross-party support, which was presented by MPNeil Ellis and called for a plan to end veterans' homelessness by 2025.
MHI is a key partner with the government for Veterans' House: the Andy Carswell Building, helping to deliver on that plan with the federal government's commitment. We wish to thank the federal government for providing funding to MHI for the building of Veterans' House in the summer of 2019 in the amount of $6.5 million, which is made up of a combined $4.8-million grant and $1.73-million loan.
Veterans' House includes wraparound supports. This means immediate access to support services from a variety of partner agencies, some of which have been before this committee as part of this very study. Our list of partners is included in the information page I have provided to the clerk in both official languages.
Our goal is to provide stable housing with supports to recover from health, mental health and addiction-related issues and improve homeless veterans' overall quality of life, as well as the lives of their families who are unable to provide them with the support that they need.
Veterans' House construction began in September 2019 at the former CFB Rockcliffe Airbase in Ottawa, and is budgeted at $11.5 million. Despite the pandemic, we have committed to completing construction. I am very happy to say on this very bitterly cold day in Ottawa that we are opening our doors today and have started moving veterans in off the street.
However, because of COVID-19 we had to pause fundraising. Lockdowns and other important public health measures impacted our planned activities and slowed our construction. As well, the pandemic's effect on the economy had a devastating impact on a large number of our corporate and personal donors. This led to our need to find alternative fundraising solutions, engage various contingency plans, and mobilize a variety of partnerships to ensure that we would stay on track and be in a position to complete a safe and secure space for our homeless veterans. I am very happy to report that we have been successful in that monumental task.
It remains important to make you aware of the impacts of the pandemic on the homeless vulnerable population, and more specifically on the realities of homeless veterans and the need to find a pan-Canadian solution that is viable and sustainable for the immediate and long-term future. We are currently in discussions with private donors to identify opportunities for the Andy Carswell Building, as well as for future Veterans' House buildings across Canada. We believe the federal, provincial and municipal governments are key partners to engage in these discussions. We hope that the federal government, in light of its cross-party commitment to end veterans' homelessness by 2025, will wish to become a funding partner to action this plan.
We have not sat on our laurels during these pandemic months. We are also in conversations with a number of possible new donors, and have pivoted to virtual fundraising initiatives. Most importantly, we have enjoyed an abundance of public support for our joint cause.
The Andy Carswell Building has demonstrated clearly that when working together we can leverage capital funding from all partners. The capital investment in future developments of Veterans' House communities across Canada will enable us to sustainably continue to care for our veterans well into the future and without the need for direct, ongoing financial support from the federal government. It will be something real and tangible that we can all feel proud of and will serve our veterans for many years to come.
MHI believes that Canada owes these men and women of the Canadian military service a duty of care. We are doing our part to respond to that. We also believe that there is strong federal support across all party lines for those former military members who are so desperate for our help. For that, we are very thankful to you.
Thank you very much for your attention today.