Human Resources committee  The mandatory long form gives us the vital information so that we know where housing needs are across the country. It's the basis for establishing core housing need. I do want to say that while there's a general view that the $2.1 billion in the 2009 stimulus budget for afford

Human Resources committee  Can I just say very quickly that I of course cannot see into the hearts of others and assess that. I will say that this goes in the face of what's happening internationally, if you look, for instance, at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, of which Canada

Human Resources committee  It is, and the point I was trying to make was that one of the issues raised was how we measure the effectiveness of government programs, including the $2.1 billion the government committed for affordable housing in the 2009 budget. We're equally interested in measuring the result

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. My name is Michael Shapcott. I'm director of affordable housing and social innovation at the Wellesley Institute. We're an independent research and policy institute dedicated to advancing urban health. We understand that good evidence is fundamental for goo

Human Resources committee  I'd be happy to take a stab at that. You make some very interesting comments to frame your question. Of course, you spoke about the reality we face in Canada, which is that almost everything falls into the jurisdictional quagmire because, sadly, when the British government gave

Human Resources committee  I was just going to say that we're in discussion with the Province of Ontario. They've already started to open up their provincial infrastructure fund, which is called OSIFA. They've initially announced that $500 million of it will be available as credit to non-profit housing pro

Human Resources committee  We have a number of examples in various parts of the world. To take some jurisdictions that are perhaps closer to Canada, Wales and Scotland, which are both quasi- or sub-national jurisdictions of the British Parliament but with some independence, have both adopted very comprehen

Human Resources committee  They've been used quite effectively in some situations. I could point you to situations in Toronto in which, for instance, homeless people have been taken literally from the street and put into vacant private rental housing. Literally overnight, they've moved from being homeless

Human Resources committee  If I may take a first stab at that, we had a housing economist here in Canada, Duncan Maclennan, who actually worked for the federal government for a short time but left in frustration. He's now back in Scotland. He has done detailed work along the lines you are talking about in

Human Resources committee  I will confess to you, Mr. Kennedy, as a long-time housing advocate, that I've often thought that violence sometimes might be necessary, but of course you can't put a gun to people's heads. This bill, although it doesn't put a gun to people's heads, adopts basically a naming-and-

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the opportunity to make these submissions. The Wellesley Institute is an independent research and policy institute. Over the last decade we've funded more than 100 research and policy projects that look at the links between housing, income, and health. I'd very muc

Finance committee  Yes, an increase. And on the landing fee, we don't understand the rationale for that either.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. As you know, on the issue of newcomers, from a demographic perspective it's not just your region but all across the country, in almost every part of the country. Any population growth that we have will be from newcomers as opposed to natural birth and so on

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My name is Michael Shapcott. I'm the director of affordable housing and social innovation at the Wellesley Institute. With me is my colleague Nimira Lalani, who is a research associate. The Wellesley Institute is an independent research and pol

Human Resources committee  Yes, I'd be happy to, and thank you very much. Co-op housing, in fact, was nominated by the federal government in 1996 as a global best practice and was recognized by the United Nations as a global best practice. It's a model that many countries around the world admire. Ironical