Finance committee  The fact is that we don't actually know the national wait-list, simply because jurisdictions both locally and provincially count wait-lists for affordable housing in different ways. At this point, because we have also not had the investment in research we need in affordable housi

Finance committee  It is that at a minimum, absolutely, on wait-lists. These are Canadians who have registered to be in an affordable housing unit. This does not generally often include, for example, homeless people who may not register. It is, I would argue, a crisis. Also, in terms of the solut

Finance committee  It's a first step. It is certainly not at all what is required. We definitely need more.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning to you all, and thank you for the invitation to appear before this first panel of the committee. As some of you may know, CHRA represents the social, non-profit, and affordable housing sector in Canada. What we are talking about in these publ

Human Resources committee  Can I just very quickly add to that? There's been a lot of talk about the infrastructure bank that Minister Morneau announced as the lending vehicle for housing. One concern with that bank concept, which we've heard from our members, is that it's simply not scalable. It's essent

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Stéphan. First, I will very quickly talk about our recommendations. Our first key recommendation was to strengthen the role of housing as a social good. For example, we recommend specific measures to prevent and eliminate homelessness. We recommend the introduction

Finance committee  Just very quickly, in our world, supply is the key priority, and a number of the recommendations that we've submitted regarding the national housing strategy including the notion of the creation of a dedicated housing financing authority are meant to address exactly that.

Finance committee  Very quickly, to be clear, we are not discounting the private sector. There are some really innovative PPPs happening. We spent the day with the head of the Edmonton housing authority the other day, where private sector partners are lining up around the corner wanting to partne

Finance committee  It's an interesting question. One of the models I talked about in my opening remarks was a model of social housing that incorporates financial literacy programs. The provider actually provides an upfront grant that is matched by the tenants as part of this one particular program.

Finance committee  I'm sorry, but I will answer in English. I think the challenge with a federal government department playing this enhanced role is that it may not have the mechanisms to bring together the wide array of stakeholders that would be necessary and beneficial in that kind of forum. I

Finance committee  As you probably know, part of the discussions regarding the national housing strategy has to do with the concept of an affordable housing benefit, which I think gets at the concept you're raising. We have some concerns with the concept. First of all, there is definitely the poten

Finance committee  I don't think there would be any question by anyone in this room that having a roof over one's head is a precondition for just about everything else that you want out of life, whether it's health, education, family or so forth. I don't think there would be any disagreement there.

Finance committee  It's interesting. In November 2016, I believe, CMHC released their rental market report, which revealed that the supply of rental housing has actually been quite robust, and that rental rates themselves have somewhat stabilized. Again, it is absolutely correct that this differs r

Finance committee  Our members are quite varied. We include social housing providers across the country, municipalities, all 13 provincial and territorial housing departments, non-profit associations, and interested individuals.

Finance committee  It depends on how you define the space. There is an organization, as you suggest, for co-ops. There is, of course, FCM. There is an organization representing the homelessness sector specifically, but within the social housing space, we are essentially the organization.