Finance committee  No, because, on the one hand, it's more costly to pay a bonus. Curiously, if you think of a long period of time, it costs less to fund a low-cost housing program than to give a person a bonus, given the nature of the market. On the other hand, if you assist a person directly, when that person improves his circumstances, nothing is left for the community.

Finance committee  Construction costs approximately $100,000.

Finance committee  It doesn't cost the Government of Canada $100,000. That amount is generally allocated as follows: 40% to the Government of Canada, 30% to the Government of Quebec, 10% to the municipality and another $100,000 for the mortgage, paid by the cooperative, the NPO or the low-cost housing organization.

Finance committee  How many are lacking in Quebec City itself? The waiting list for low-cost housing contains 3,000 names. I believe that 18,000 households, according to Government of Canada standards, could have access to social housing. We're not saying that 18,000 are needed, but...

Finance committee  Yes, I'm talking about Quebec City, the new Quebec City, the new municipality. If we look at the figures from the last census, nearly 40% of rental households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and nearly 22% spend more than 50% of their income on housing-related expenses.

Finance committee  Social housing is a collective form of property ownership. Lower-income households spend astounding percentages of their income on housing. All the money released through access to social housing is directly reinvested in the local economy. A welfare recipient who spends 80% of his income on housing and who enters low-income housing spends only 25% of his income on housing.