Finance committee  The first thing we have to do is make sure that there is no speculation and that the government does not contribute to it. When we fund private affordable housing, that housing can be purchased by an investor. Then it could become financialized, which defeats the purpose. To ensure that the money will properly serve the public in the long term, the government must turn to social and community housing.

Finance committee  If we don't do everything you talked about soon and on a big scale, we won't have a housing crisis; we'll have a social crisis. We have to make sure that we as a country wake up and do what we need to do to avoid that. We have all the tools; we just need to have the will and the money and make sure that everybody is on the same page.

Finance committee  Yes. I just want to say that laws matter. When the Quebec government invests in a co-operative or a non-profit organization, certain obligations are imposed by legislation, in particular the Cooperatives Act and the legislative provisions for non-profit housing organizations. They were recently amended to give the minister the right to intervene in the purchase of a building that is put up for sale.

Finance committee  Recognition of social housing as a development tool and a way to uphold the right to housing, but also as an economic response so that people can have access to housing, is huge. That is why what we call affordable housing here does not correspond to that definition. Affordable housing is affordable for whom?

Finance committee  Thank you for having us and for allowing us to participate in the committee's work and to highlight the importance of housing in the current crisis and its effect on the country's public finances. For those who are not familiar with the Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec, it is an association that brings together 25 technical resource groups, or TRGs, throughout Quebec.

Human Resources committee  It could certainly be useful, but it's not a cure-all. You may not know this, but we had to create the Fonds d'acquisition de Montréal—an acquisition, or investment, fund—in conjunction with Ms. Cyr's organization, Bâtir son quartier. We had to create the Fonds d'acquisition québécois so that we had the funding to take advantage of market opportunities and purchase properties while we were waiting for program funding to come in.

Human Resources committee  A good example is with the RHI money that's been spent in Quebec. The agreement was that we had a lot of projects that were responding exactly to the needs that the program wanted, so we took the money. The Quebec government didn't index the amount of money to realize the project, so they were all underfunded.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. When it comes to housing construction projects, what matters is ensuring that the focus is on the community. Governments and programs have to take into account the real needs of the people in the community. The government cannot simply issue a call for proposals and direct its investments accordingly, while it leaves everything up to the market or whatever initiative it may be.

Human Resources committee  Our association has a $200-million operating fund and we are trying to acquire private sector housing to transform it into community housing. We take it out of the market. We take it out of speculation and we make sure that it will be in good condition and make sure that the rent won't be high, because the people who live there will decide and will put the money in to make sure their apartments are okay and will have funding and have an association to help them manage that housing.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to inform its study on the creation of the housing accelerator fund. I'd like to begin by saying a few words about the Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec, or AGRTQ. The association represents 25 technical resource groups, TRGs, serving all of Quebec.

Human Resources committee  You have to go with the good faith. When somebody is clear that they won't use it, that's one thing, but when a government has a system in place and wants to use it in a different way, you have to get the flexibility to make sure that the money goes down. It's a question of everything or nothing.

Human Resources committee  Exactly.

Human Resources committee  I don't want to get into the politics. That's for sure. I'm looking at projects for people who are probably in bad housing situations. For three years, because of the bureaucratic knowledge of who's responsible for what.... I don't want to know who's responsible. I want to make sure that the money is there and that it gets on the ground.

Human Resources committee  I think the government is trying to build new housing and making sure to deliver. Whether you put it in or not, the question is this: What's the accountability on the subsidy? At the end of the convention, I think the people in Quebec and the government do want new housing. They want new development and they want to support the ones that are existing.

Human Resources committee  I will just tell you that flexibility is definitely the answer, because with the co-investment that we have we're trying to make two programs work together, and they don't. We're trying to get the AccèsLogis in to fund the program, and we're trying to go to co-investment to get the money that we missed, and it doesn't work easily.