Finance committee  In Canada, we have among the highest home ownership rates in the world, at about 69%. Indeed, as you suggest, home ownership is well correlated with various social outcomes, including forced savings, retirement wealth, etc. We took as quite instructive the research being done by the Bank of Canada that the number of people who had very high credit scores and were entering the housing market had grown from 4% of people who were indebted to 8%.

Finance committee  We share responsibility for housing on reserve with our colleagues at INAC. Currently we spend about $282 million—I'm just referring to my notes—to house first nations on reserve annually. Budget 2016 added an additional $554 million over two years, of which $138 million was directed to CMHC for renovation and retrofit programs.

Finance committee  Capacity building is an important part of our mandate. We reserve monies each year to invest in that. If you take communities of 50, 200, or even 1,000 people and put them in remote locations where there isn't much economic activity, capacity will be a problem. That's the situation that faces many first nations communities, as members will know.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s a pleasure to be here. I want to thank the committee for rescheduling my appearance after I was unable to attend the session on January 30. Unfortunately, my daughter suddenly fell very ill and I had to take care of her. Mr. Tremblay, the senior vice-president of policy, research and public affairs, spoke on my behalf at that session.

Human Resources committee  I think your question, if I may respond, is very similar to the question I heard earlier. I hope I'm not repeating myself in saying that there's $30 million in the budget for the expiring social housing agreements that are federally administered. That exists; we think it's more than sufficient funding.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for your question. The answer is that the amount of money we've estimated covers expiring social housing agreements over the next two years. Social housing agreements that have expired to date, which comprise about 100,000 units, have largely been covered, we believe, by provinces through investment in affordable housing.

Human Resources committee  I'm looking for the page. I may ask Brian Naish, our CFO, to comment on that. I did mention earlier in my comments that we were going to be spending more time on data gaps in particular. For example, we don't know how many mortgages are issued in Canada every year, embarrassingly.

Human Resources committee  Information on foreign ownership was one thing I mentioned, but there are several different data gaps.

Human Resources committee  Indeed.

Human Resources committee  Let me just elaborate that there's $90 million for victims of family violence, as you know, and in addition $10 million, which I realize won't quite satisfy your broader need, for victims of family violence on reserve. In addition to that, the larger pool of money is of course available to provinces and territories to dedicate to shelters as well.

Human Resources committee  No, it's allocated by province based on prior allocations. The provinces and territories will then allocate it to projects.

Human Resources committee  There is some, and it's covered in the numbers. In fact, those numbers would include our estimates of required staffing. It wouldn't be large numbers. It's 20, 30, or 40 people in a population of about 1,900 at CMHC. Those requirements are included in these estimates.

Human Resources committee  The full range of housing would be comprised in the national housing strategy. We'll make note of that and include it as part of our consultations.

Human Resources committee  About 100,000 units is the number. It was in fact delivered in the budget by Minister Morneau. He estimated that it would deliver 100,000 households.

Human Resources committee  I don't have that answer for you, but I'm happy to give it to you, if we can—