Finance committee  I had a conversation with Wayne McNaughton, who's here with me this morning and who has experience in all of this, and he said the time for consultation is over. How many reports does government need before it acts? We all know, and we look to what's happening in Newfoundland and

Finance committee  No, I'm good. I'll finish there. Thank you very much.

Finance committee  Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this morning. The health centre is a non-profit government organization with a mission to support north end Halifax to be a healthy community by offering leadership in primary health care, education, and

Finance committee  They don't have the resources to do it. I didn't say they weren't capable.

Finance committee  Economically, they're not in a position to own home property and manage it. I'm basing this observation on the low-income people I work with.

Finance committee  My point was economic. I think the way to get around the issue you're raising with the chief, although I don't have experience with aboriginal housing, is the cooperative model, a community-inclusive model. I work with non-profit organizations in which tenants are on the organiza

Finance committee  I'd say what's happening is about one-tenth of the need. The province establishes its own priorities and how it uses housing money. We think the federal government should put standards down. They should lead and they should get beyond capital and into programming. There are a lot

Finance committee  I think the province has $23 million. I have no idea how they intend to spend it over the next three or four years. We're afraid that it'll go into rent supplements to private landlords who, after ten years, will have no accountability. We don't know what the province is going to

Finance committee  I think it's more effectively spent by creating community. We support mixed housing and home-ownership programs. However, by and large, non-profit housing delivery of social housing is the best bang for the buck. We need not-for-profit social housing in our province. We need it d

Finance committee  I think the province would argue that the federal government is downloading responsibility for the operation of social housing. It is not giving them an adequate budget to address the issues. A lot of the social housing is falling apart. I had a call yesterday from somebody who

Finance committee  We perhaps put in 10% of what we need in social housing; that's what the issue is. The province, like the federal government, does not put in significant amounts of money; it actually takes money out of the social housing budget. So if you look at what the province has been doing

Finance committee  We need more collaboration. We may need more focus, more targeted...and more opportunity for all the players to come together and work with one another.

Finance committee  I think that's part of it, but I believe strongly that this federal government needs to provide leadership in this area.

Finance committee  Well, absolutely, particularly social housing--build it. I think it's a good example. The private sector is doing very well in Halifax, particularly in the housing area. If you look around at the condominiums that are being built, there is no low-income housing being built--none,

Finance committee  I think the research is out, and the fact of the matter is that everything you say is true and everybody knows it. It's a question of ideology and political will. When leaders in government are ready to say it's not just for us to have 10% of Nova Scotians living in absolute pove