Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

Mr. Chair, deputy chairs and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear.

The Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain is a Quebec-wide group of more than 140 organizations advocating for the right to housing. We advocate mainly on behalf of tenants in inadequate housing and all social housing applicants.

Quebec and all the provinces are experiencing an unprecedented rental housing shortage, the most extreme Quebec has ever seen. The housing crisis is no longer defined only by scarcity, but also, and mainly, by housing unaffordability. It is fuelled by speculation, inadequate measures to control rent increases and evictions, the discrimination experienced by some households and, more than anything, the lack of alternatives to private housing. While about 90% of the rental stock is private, it is now inaccessible to a significant portion of renter households.

The data from the last census are clear on the number of renter households in Canada that, in 2021, were already spending more than the standard 30% of their income on housing. The number is more than 1.6 million renter households across the country. Rents for the few available rental apartments are much higher, the stock of affordable housing is rapidly dwindling, and housing insecurity is now impacting more and more renter households that were previously unaffected.

Rental housing built in recent years, often by real estate giants, has unfortunately contributed to the growing unaffordability. This is proof that we cannot rely on them to solve the crisis. I'll come back to that.

The high cost of rents and the disparity between those rents and the incomes of a large number of tenants are at the root of a crisis that undermines their ability to pay. That ability is an important component of the right to decent housing, which Canada recognizes.

However, since the private sector owns 90% of the rental stock, as I said, there are very few alternatives to units that are too expensive for the very many households that are no longer able to find decent housing at a price that matches their ability to pay.

In this context, the lack of social housing contributes to the crisis and has clearly contributed to the increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in recent years, all over Quebec and across Canada. In anticipation of the next budget, the Government of Canada must focus its efforts on the social housing sector as a long-term solution to the crisis.

Whether in the form of public social housing, co-operatives or non-profit housing organizations, social and community housing provides shelter that meets the diverse needs of tenants at a price that matches their ability to pay. These tenants include seniors, families, urban indigenous people, women fleeing domestic violence and people with low incomes. This is the most comprehensive and permanent form of housing assistance, as long as it is adequately subsidized through sustainable programs with clear guidelines. It is particularly important that the guidelines take into account affordability and democratic governance. This approach serves as a bulwark against not just the current crisis, but also real estate speculation for generations to come.

However, as I was saying, there is a bitter lack of housing. For three decades, the Canadian government's response to housing issues focused on non-profit and community-owned social housing. In the past, federal investments have made it possible to significantly grow our collective heritage. In the space of 20 years, these investments increased the share of social housing from 0.5% to about 9.5% of Quebec's rental stock, and the same is more or less true in the rest of Canada.

Since then, unfortunately, the federal government's chronic underfunding and disengagement have meant that the proportion has practically stagnated for the past 20 years across Canada. I won't be telling you anything new when I say that the national housing strategy, which was introduced in 2017, has clearly not helped to fund a large number of housing units actually intended for low and modest-income individuals and families with the most urgent needs, as data from the last Statistics Canada census show. There is a reason for that. Despite the objectives of the strategy, the initiatives were poorly targeted and the funds earmarked for housing are overwhelmingly used to build apartments at far too high a cost.

As you know, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor General have tabled reports on the issue, as have the federal housing advocate and the National Housing Council.

There is no longer any doubt that the strategy has unfortunately missed the mark so far. However, billions of dollars are slated for housing over the next few years.

Fortunately, the last budget and Canada's housing plan reallocated some funds to provide more funding for social and community housing, as we have been calling for since the strategy was launched.

Unfortunately, most federal investments are still focused on the private sector, and those focused on non-profit housing are insufficient. Right now, out of tens of billions of dollars, only a few billion are earmarked for social housing.

We are therefore counting on the members of the committee to ensure that the next economic update and budget help a necessary shift come about. Public funds should first be used to strengthen our social safety net and provide decent housing to households with the most urgent needs. I'm talking about renter households and people who, unfortunately, are already experiencing homelessness. These people have been left behind by public policy for more than 25 years.

The share allocated to social housing should be greater to provide a real alternative to tenants in inadequate housing and counter the erosion of the still affordable rental stock that I mentioned. If we want to help the thousands of renter households in Canada, from coast to coast, to find adequate housing, that's the objective we need—