Human Resources committee  It's a discussion right now. We did not have conditions regarding affordable housing in our previous programming. It's a new element that we've brought to bear, and that's where there are active discussions on what would be possible, given the already advanced development of those particular lines.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. We're in serious discussions with Quebec on that subject. I think that we've made a lot of progress in terms of granting funds under the program for the next two years. I am certain that we'll reach an agreement with Quebec shortly.

Human Resources committee  When we look at the first three years of Reaching Home, we see that over 70,000 people were placed in more stable homes. When we look at a year out, we see that three-quarters of them are still in stable homes, so it's working. We have 122,000 people who were prevented from being homeless.

Human Resources committee  Perhaps I can help to provide some clarity—

Human Resources committee  Since that particular announcement was made, I have talked with stakeholders, including the Ontario Home Builders Association, whom I met with recently, and they have said it has changed the equation in making the math work. We do anticipate a number of developments that didn't pencil before to be able to now move forward.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Chair, for the question. When we look at all of Infrastructure Canada's future programming, since the change in bringing homelessness and CMHC within the portfolio—and this was announced in both budget 2022 and budget 2023—our permanent public transit program, which will be launched and starts flowing funds in 2026, will have a requirement and conditionality with affordable housing.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. We look at homelessness, as Infrastructure Canada has been responsible for the policy and the program Reaching Home since they came over in November 2021. We have been very active in looking at different opportunities. One of them is looking at and doing research with a number of communities, called an action research program, to understand....

Human Resources committee  No, we do not know how many empty homes there are in Canada. Through Reaching Home, we work very closely with the non-profit sector as well as municipalities in supporting their priorities. Through a community advisory board, they look at what's happening within their community and make the decisions on how best to support the people who are in precarious or vulnerable situations in their community.

Human Resources committee  I'll defer to Ms. Bowers on that one.

Human Resources committee  I just have some brief comments, Mr. Chair.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for welcoming me here today. I'd like begin by acknowledging that we are here on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. Infrastructure Canada began supporting the Government of Canada's housing and homelessness agenda in November 2021.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question. When we look at the targets for homelessness, one main factor is working with our community entities across the country. We have 60 community entities, plus a number of community entities in Quebec, and we are working with the territories.

Public Accounts committee  Again, when this particular audit was done, the transition from CMHC coming in and working with Infrastructure Canada...and the homelessness policy and programs had just moved into Infrastructure Canada. That has been clarified. Under the minister's direction, Infrastructure Canada is responsible for homelessness policy and the program Reaching Home.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. The time of the audit was during the COVID period. The non-profit organizations in the homeless-serving sector were dedicated to saving the lives and protecting the health of the clients they were serving and could not provide the data at that time.

Public Accounts committee  That particular platform was put in place in the fall of last year. That is the system that community entities can use in a very efficient way to give us results in a timely way. That's how we collected the data on the 5,000 projects. That is now a way that community entities can save time, energy and effort and direct their capacity to actually serving the clients, but at the same time being accountable and transparent in the difference they're making in their communities.