Finance committee  Sure. Yes, an acquisition fund would be really important for non-profits in particular, especially those non-profits committed to providing actual affordable housing. I just want to clarify what we're talking about here. There are about one million renter households in core housing need in this country.

Finance committee  I think there are some new areas of investor demand that we would do well, in this country, to understand and be concerned with. One area is student accommodation. We are learning that students are having a very difficult time both paying for tuition and paying rent. In many cities—Halifax is a really good example; I have a daughter there right now—it's the rent that's more unaffordable than the tuition.

Finance committee  Thank you, and good afternoon. I'm Leilani Farha. I'm the director of The Shift, a human rights organization focused on housing and finance. I'm also the former United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. Before my substantive comments, I would like to say that I come here with a very heavy heart.

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  To reconvene that idea, it indeed seems to me that there is not going to be a silver bullet to all of this. A multipronged approach is necessary. I do want to reiterate something around investment in housing. I really think we have to take a big step back in this country and understand that the way investment in housing is working right now is not working for people who are low income or even for higher-income earners.

Finance committee  Sure. There's a lot that could be done on the demand side. Some of my co-panellists have already articulated some of these things. One thing that shocks me about Canada is that we don't have a sense of who is in need and where they are in need. I think there needs to be a national audit, city by city, region by region, place by place, that enumerates who is in need, what their income brackets are, and who is living in homelessness, etc.

Finance committee  The federal nature of this country does make housing complicated at times. There isn't always a really good synergy between the different levels of government. I work a lot with city governments in this country, and I hear a lot from them about the lack of synergy. I would say that it is the federal government's role to show leadership.

Finance committee  Thank you for inviting me into this conversation. In my capacity as the global director of The Shift, much of my work has focused on the financialization of housing or the nexus between housing, finance and human rights. I'm also the former United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing, a position I held for six years between 2014 and 2020.

Finance committee  I would just say that I'm deeply concerned and that I don't think that Canada is yet on the path to dealing with the deeply affordable housing needs and social housing needs. The rental housing finance initiative is about 40% of the national housing strategy budget, and it's just not good enough.

Finance committee  To be honest, it's whatever works. If the residents are finding that modular housing is meeting their affordability and security of tenure needs, that's cool. That's what the right to housing is about. It's not really for me to dictate that people have to do this or go down this road or that road.

Finance committee  No, I don't, actually, and my point about that goes to Paul's point about the different support we provide to homeowners versus renters. At the time when I heard that banks were going to be provided with this cushion, I had a mixed reaction as a human rights lawyer. On the one hand I agreed, because I don't want homeowners to be suffering and not be able to pay their mortgage and then have foreclosure happen.

Finance committee  I could see that Mr. Kershaw was nodding the same way I was. I shouldn't speak for Mr. Kershaw, but I agree with what Mr. Tremblay said, which is that I thought this tax was an interesting little move. It was a little thing, just a tinkering. I think it's maybe a bit of a red herring.

Finance committee  I wrote that correspondence in my capacity as United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing, and no, I did not receive a formal response.

Finance committee  Well, wait; actually, I think the rapid housing initiative was somewhat related to that. That is my understanding. It's not what I had envisioned. I actually thought national level government should.... I actually felt that the government and CMHC should do the acquisitions, and then, because they have the fiscal power—and the know-how, in CMHC's case—they would have this body of public assets and they could then determine what to do with them.

Finance committee  Yes, that's correct. It has to be repurposed.