Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, I still agree with those. I agree with the comments that my other colleagues made as well—first of all, situating in the bigger picture what is creating some of the headwinds and the uncertainty around it. I'd also go back to my opening points about seeing housing as a system.

Finance committee  I think certainly the signal is negative in that we need to look more broadly at our tax system to reorient it towards growth enhancements.

Finance committee  I published a report early last year in which we did say that the government should set a target for social housing. We did see that there is a real issue, particularly for Canadians with fixed incomes, who aren't on market incomes, for whom housing affordability is going to be elusive, regardless of what policies are taken on the market side.

Finance committee  I think that we should be looking at how to leverage capital markets to build more housing supply across the spectrum. We also need to have a very focused, specific strategy at the social end because it isn't driven by market forces. I do see a role.... A number of these aging structures are with REIT companies, so I think there is a role to harness—

Finance committee  I'm sorry; I apologize.

Finance committee  In this report, what I looked at was the income quintile of the renters. The really acute situation right now is in renters because, in an economic cycle, normally what happens when home prices and interest rates are high is that we see more people renting, and renting is a more of a relief valve.

Finance committee  I'm sorry, but it's a third. I think 10% is a good number. That is a number that would be classified as core housing need, so 10% of Canadian households.

Finance committee  At the very high end we have in the double digits, from 20% to 30%. We certainly have half of the OECD peers at the lower end. I would say that the market constructs are quite different. We admit it's very simplistic to say we're very mediocre, if not poor, relative to OECD. We said double....

Finance committee  I'd like to very briefly pick up on that. First of all, use the footprint we have already. That builds on the densification but also the infrastructure that is out there. Also, we are a very decentralized country, so we have to figure out how to make that work. A lot of the needs are going to be local and on the ground.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. First, I would separate two separate issues from the.... Obviously, banks provide capital. They provide capital to individuals to buy homes and also capital to developers to produce homes. Right now you also have to think of demand. What we heard from earlier testimony was around the rules and regulations.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. You know, I haven't seen details of the legislation, so maybe what I will talk more broadly about is the impact of the costs of some of the headwinds to supply right now. Very obviously a big one right now is high interest rates, so that—

Finance committee  We certainly know right now in the industry that development charges are a very big component in some sites—anywhere from 20% to 30% of the cost of new supply. That certainly, as a big chunk of what it costs to build, has been a deterrent to new supply.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to provide comments today. My name is Rebekah Young. I'm vice-president and head of inclusion and resilience economics in Scotiabank Economics. I'll be providing perspectives from a macroeconomist perspective. Also in my role, I provide thought leadership on sustainable economic growth by taking a longer-term look at structural forces impacting Canadian welfare.