Mr. Speaker, “A roof is a right” is the campaign slogan for several organizations advocating for basic human rights. Canada is the only G7 country without a national housing strategy. The government's failure to accept its housing responsibilities is unacceptable.
In the 2012-13 budget, the government cut the housing envelope by $21.7 million. The provinces are already stretched to the limit. The lack of social housing and its deterioration due to insufficient funding have reached critical levels, and 1.5 million households do not have access to adequate housing.
The situation in La Pointe-de-l'Île is no exception. In the borough of Rivière-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles, 6,500 people spend more than 30% of their income on housing. According to the director of Infologis de l'est de l'île de Montréal, these figures are alarming because families are often forced to spend less on other essential items, such as food. In Pointe-aux-Trembles, 19% of households spend more than 50% of their income on housing. That makes no sense.
In 2009, the Prime Minister promised the UN Human Rights Council that he would work with the provinces and territories to ensure that Canadians—