Mr. Speaker, I share the concern of my colleague from the NDP about this matter, but I do not share his concern about the interest of the government in it.
I can give a couple of examples from my own riding. In Peterborough the federal government funded the forum on homelessness attended by one of my friend's colleagues. That forum and the study associated with it identified the nature of homelessness very seriously in a rural small town environment as distinct from some of the larger urban communities.
Having identified those problems moneys have started to flow to solve them. For example, there is in Peterborough now a housing resource centre which helps people, young people, older people, and very old people in some cases, search more effectively for a home. The federal government was able to work with the county and the city to deal with that.
Even more recently we had a meeting with representatives of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, one of the federal government's main arms in this regard. Like my colleague I would urge the government to give Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation more resources in the social housing area. Nevertheless, in my riding two weeks ago CMHC was able to fund a substantial project, a refuge for homeless women.
I agree that homelessness is a serious problem. It is my sense, and I hope it proceeds very quickly, that the federal government is beginning to tackle these problems. I thank my colleague for his question.