Good afternoon.

I'd like to acknowledge that Ottawa is located on the unceded Algonquin Anishinabe territory and is also the home of many diverse first nations, Inuit and Métis people. Put simply, these lands were stolen from the traditional keepers for the purposes of settlers. Dispossession of land is just one form of ongoing colonization that has led to first nations, Métis and indigenous people disproportionately experiencing homelessness.

The alliance is a member-driven organization representing 75 non-profit service providers in the housing and homelessness sector in Ottawa. Our members work within systems that have unintentionally caused homelessness to flourish. They have witnessed the changes over the last 40 years, as our country has gone from a small number of mostly men experiencing chronic homelessness in the 1980s, to a mass problem in the mid-2000s, with over 235,000 Canadians experiencing homelessness in a year. That includes women, families, seniors and youth. There has been an explosion in recent years, where homeless encampments are a fixture in Canadian communities. An estimated 10% of people in Ottawa's shelters are employed, but can't afford housing.

The year 2023 marked the highest numbers on record in Ottawa's shelter system. Our shelters are full of people unable to find an affordable home. In many cases, they just need affordable housing. Without being able to access this, people get stuck, increasing the number of people in shelters past the breaking point. This overwhelmed system means that those with greater needs, often dealing with serious mental health challenges, are not getting the support they need either.

We can't talk about the lack of investment in housing without also talking about the investments made into the homelessness programs and connected systems, like emergency services, health and social services, hospitals and the criminal justice system. Homelessness traumatizes people already in crisis and has negative impacts on individuals, families and communities. It is much more expensive than affordable housing and the supports needed to keep people housed.

The national homelessness initiative was created in 1999 to respond to the dramatic growth in homelessness that occurred less than a decade after the funding programs for affordable housing were transferred to the provinces and territories without the fiscal capacity to support them. We've been funding homelessness ever since.

Unfortunately, while homelessness programs are well intentioned, we can't house people without a housing supply. It's like trying to put out a fire, while the gas is turned on and the water is turned off.

The housing programs that were initiated in the 2000s have been well intentioned, but they haven't been strategic. First, under the investment in affordable housing, IAH, program, 470,000 new homes were created from 2000 to 2019. Despite this, in Ottawa, 31 affordable houses in the private market are now lost for each new unit of purpose-built, affordable housing created. A recent report on renovictions in Ottawa showed that between 2017 and 2022, there was a 545% increase in the number of eviction notices issued for significant renovations or demolition. We need to protect the affordable housing stock we have.

Next, below market rents, BMR, which make up the majority of rents produced under the IAH and subsequent programs, don't begin to meet the affordability needs of people with low income. BMR sets the affordability in relation to what the market can charge, instead of setting it in relation to the incomes of those who need housing. In January 2024, the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa was $2,000 a month. You'd need an income of $72,000 a year to comfortably afford that, which is out of reach for anyone on a pension, receiving social assistance or earning a low-to-moderate wage.

Finally, there's a disconnect between the capital funding from the federal government and provincial funding to operate supportive housing, which is affordable housing with on-site health and social services for people who need that assistance to live independently. Without the provincial commitment, funders like CMHC tell supportive housing non-profits that their operating plans aren't viable—and they're right. However, the cost of people cycling through homelessness and hospital emergency wards is much higher than the cost of integrating health services into affordable housing.

Whether we're talking about learning from the past or planning for the future, there are some clear takeaways.

Firstly, we need sustained investment in building deeply affordable and permanently affordable non-market housing. Canada needs to double its non-profit housing stock by 2030 to begin to get a handle on the crisis. Some reports suggest a quadrupling is needed.

The recently announced acquisition strategy is a great idea to prevent the loss of existing housing stock. Increasing the percentage of deeply and permanently affordable housing in the housing market will create healthy vacancy rates in the lower end of the market, meet the needs of people who are not served by the private housing market and have a downward drag on market rents overall.

Secondly, Canada needs a universal, income-based definition of affordable housing so that we can focus housing programs on creating truly affordable housing, regardless of the inadequacy of social assistance rates.

Thirdly, we need to manage affordability by creating a national rent control and vacancy decontrol legislation in line with Canada's commitment to housing as a human right.

Finally, we need to keep people housed through permanent supportive housing.

Thank you for your time and attention.

I look forward to your questions.