PACP committee briefing binder: Appearance of Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada - November 29, 2022

On this page

• 1. Opening remarks
• 2. Parliamentary environment
  • a. Scenario note
  • b. Anticipated questions
  • c. Committee membership and biographies
• 3. Summary of findings and recommendations of the OAG audit
  • a. OAG findings and recommendations
  • b. Infrastructure Canada detailed action plan
• 4. Issues
  • a. Key messages and Qs and As - OAG audit of chronic homelessness
  • b. Reaching Home funding breakdown 2019 to 2022

1. Opening remarks

Opening remarks for Jean-François Tremblay - Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development for an appearance before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts 2022 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada (Report 5 – Chronic Homelessness) House of Commons November 29, 2022.

Check against delivery

Mr. Chair, I am happy to be here today. I want to thank the Office of the Auditor General for its work in highlighting the important issue of chronic homelessness in Canada.

I am joined by Nisa Tummon, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Program Operations Branch for Service Canada.

Chronic homelessness is a pressing issue. As Deputy Minister Gillis has said, everyone in Canada has a right to a safe and affordable place to call home.

While my department now has only a supporting role on this file, the audit included an examination of ESDC's efforts, among others, to reduce and prevent chronic homelessness in Canada. 

Let me begin by saying that I am proud of ESDC's work in launching Reaching Home in 2019.

Reaching Home is a $3.4 billion, 9-year program under the National Housing Strategy. It supports Canada's commitment to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% by the end of the fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

In the fall of 2021, the Reaching Home program was transferred from ESDC to Infrastructure Canada to support the newly created position of Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion.

While accountability for Reaching Home was transferred, Service Canada continues to deliver a portion of the program on behalf of Infrastructure Canada. This was done to ensure continuity of service to communities and was codified through a memorandum of understanding between our departments.

ESDC or Service Canada has similar arrangements to deliver programs on behalf of other government departments.

This means that we are still involved in working with funding recipients to ensure they provide the requisite information as outlined in their contribution agreements.

ESDC will continue to work collaboratively with Infrastructure Canada to address the critical priority of preventing and reducing homelessness in Canada.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have related to the specifics of service delivery for Reaching Home.

- 30 -

2. Parliamentary environment (title not provided in original binder)

a. Scenario note

1. Overview

You are invited to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) on Report 5 of the Auditor General of Canada on Chronic Homelessness.

2. Committee proceedings

The appearance is scheduled to take place on November 29, 2022, from 3:30 pm until 5:30 pm.

You are invited to appear for 2 hours as part of a panel, by video-conference, with the Auditor General and her principal for this audit, as well as officials form Infrastructure Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Each organization will have up to 5 minutes for opening remarks.

PACP has agreed that questioning of witnesses would be allocated as follows:

• In round 1, there are 6 minutes for each party in the following order: 
  • Conservative Party
  • Liberal Party
  • Bloc Québécois; and
  • New Democratic Party
• For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning is as follows: 
  • Conservative Party, 5 minutes
  • Liberal Party, 5 minutes
  • Bloc Québécois, 2 and a half minutes
  • New Democratic Party, 2 and a half minutes
  • Conservative Party, 5 minutes, and
  • Liberal Party, 5 minutes

b. Anticipated questions

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP)

Auditor General Report 5 – Chronic Homelessness

Anticipated questions based on the parliamentary environment

Topics

• Change in responsibility
• Monitoring of remaining programming at ESDC
• Program did not always achieve its gender-based plus analysis goals

Anticipated questions

• Why was responsibility for Reaching Home transferred from Employment and Social Development Canada to Infrastructure Canada? Was it because of ESDC mismanagement as highlighted in the audit?
• Were you provided with any briefings on the program before it was moved to Infrastructure Canada?
• How does ESDC now support Infrastructure Canada with the Reaching Home program?
• How is ESDC still involved in this program's delivery?
• What oversight mechanisms are in place relating to program delivery?
• How does ESDC monitor funding agreements through Service Canada?
• What new measures are now in place to ensure proper monitoring of the funding agreements?
• What assurances can you give the committee that you are now working in a more coordinated way?
• How did ESDC consider underrepresented groups in the gender-based analysis plus? Why was project result data not collected for all targeted populations, nor information consistently obtained on gender identity for those benefiting from the program?
• I understand that Reaching Home is the most recent iteration of the federal homelessness program, which has existed since 1999. What were the results of the previous iteration?
• As we've seen recently with the hard-to-reach population audit, your Department seems to have an issue with measuring and monitoring. Does ESDC have a systemic problem in evaluating the effectiveness of its programs?

c. Committee membership and biographies (title not provided in original binder)

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP)

Mandate of the committee

When the Speaker tables a report by the Auditor General in the House of Commons, it is automatically referred to the Public Accounts Committee. The Committee selects the chapters of the report it wants to study and calls the Auditor General and senior public servants from the audited organizations to appear before it to respond to the Office of the Auditor General's findings. The Committee also reviews the federal government's consolidated financial statements – the Public Accounts of Canada – and examines financial and/or accounting shortcomings raised by the Auditor General. At the conclusion of a study, the Committee may present a report to the House of Commons that includes recommendations to the government for improvements in administrative and financial practices and controls of federal departments and agencies.

Government policy, and the extent to which policy objectives are achieved, are generally not examined by the Public Accounts Committee. Instead, the Committee focuses on government administration – the economy and efficiency of program delivery as well as the adherence to government policies, directives and standards. The Committee seeks to hold the government to account for effective public administration and due regard for public funds.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3) of the House of Commons, the mandate of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts is to review and report on:

• the Public Accounts of Canada
• all reports of the Auditor General of Canada
• the Office of the Auditor General's Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report, and
• any other matter that the House of Commons shall, from time to time, refer to the Committee

The Committee also reviews:

• the federal government's consolidated financial statements
• the Public Accounts of Canada
• makes recommendations to the government for improvements in spending practices
• considers the Estimates of the Office of the Auditor General

Other responsibilities:

• the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government administration
• the quality of administrative practices in the delivery of federal programs, and
• Government's accountability to Parliament with regard to federal spending

Committee members

• John Williamson
  • Role: Chair
  • Party: Conservative
  • Riding: New Brunswick Southwest
  • PACP member since: February 2022
• Jean Yip
  • Role: Vice-Chair
  • Party: Liberal
  • Riding: Scarborough—Agincourt
  • PACP member since: January 2018
• Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné
  • Role: Vice-Chair and Critic for Public Accounts; Pandemic Programs; Economic Development Agencies
  • Party: Bloc Québécois
  • Riding: Terrebonne
  • PACP member since: December 2021
• Garnett Genuis
  • Role: Member and Critic for International Development
  • Party: Conservative
  • Riding: Sherwood Park—Fort, Saskatchewan
  • PACP member since: October 2022
• Michael Kram
  • Role: Member
  • Party: Conservative
  • Riding: Regina—Wascana
  • PACP member since: October 2022
• Kelly McCauley
  • Role: Member
  • Party: Conservative
  • Riding: Edmonton West
  • PACP member since: October 2022
• Blake Desjarlais
  • Role: Member and Critic for TBS; Diversity and Inclusion; Youth; Sport and PSE
  • Party: New Democratic Party
  • Riding: Edmonton Greisbach
  • PACP member since: December 2021
• Valerie Bradford
  • Role: Member
  • Party: Liberal
  • Riding: Kitchener South – Hespeler
  • PACP member since: December 2021
• Han Dong
  • Role: Member
  • Party: Liberal
  • Riding: Don Valley North
  • PACP member since: December 2021
• Peter Fragiskatos
  • Role: Member
  • Party: Liberal
  • Riding: Parliamentary Secretary National Revenue
  • PACP member since: December 2021
• Brenda Shanahan
  • Role: MemberMember and Parliamentary Secretary National Revenue
  • Party: Liberal
  • Riding: Châteauguay—Lacolle
  • PACP member since: December 2021; and Jan 2016 to Jan 2018

Bios of the committee members

John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest) Conservative - Chair

• Elected as MP for New Brunswick Southwest in 2011, he was then defeated in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2021
• Currently also serves as a Member of the Liaison Committee and Chair of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
• Previously served on many committees, including PACP for a brief time in 2013
• Prior to his election, M. Williamson occupied different positions. He was an editorial writer for the National Post from 1998 to 2001, then joined the Canadian Taxpayers Federation until 2008. In 2009, he was hired by Stephen Harper as director of communications in the PMO

Jean Yip (Scarborough - Agincourt) Liberal - First Vice-Chair

• Elected as MP for Scarborough—Agincourt in a by-election on December 11, 2017, and re-elected in 2019 and 2021
• Has served on Public Accounts (since 2018), as well as Government Operations and Canada-China committees in the past
• Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
• Before her election, Ms. Yip was an insurance underwriter and constituency assistant

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne) Bloc Québécois - Second Vice-Chair

• Elected as MP for Terrebonne in the 2021 federal election
• BQ Critic for Public Accounts; Pandemic Programs; and Federal Economic Development Agencies
• Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
• Worked at the European Investment Bank and at PWC London
• Return to Quebec in 2017 to pursue a career in the Quebec business world

Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan) Conservative

• Elected as MP for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan in 2015, re-elected ion 2019 and 2021
• Conservative Shadow Minister for International Development
• Also serves on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
• Served on multiple standing committees in the past, including Citizenship and Immigration, Canada-China Relations and Scrutiny of Regulations
• Prior to his election, Mr. Genuis was an assistant to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and adviser on the staff of former minister Rona Ambrose

Michael Kram (Regina—Wascana) Conservative

• Elected as MP for Regina—Wascana in 2019, and re-elected in 2021
• Served as Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, as well as a Member of the standing committees on Transpart, Infrastration and Communities and International Trade
• Prior to his election, Mr. Kram worked for 20 years in the information technology sector, including a number of contract positions with the Department of National Defence

Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) Conservative

• Elected as the Member of Parliament in 2015 for Edmonton West, re-elected in 2019 and 2021
• Also serves on the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs as well as the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
• Former Conservative Shadow Minister for Treasury Board
• Previously served on the COVID-19 Pandemic committee as well as the Subcomittee on Agenda and Procedure of OGGO in 2020
• Before his election in 2015, Mr. McCauley was a hospitality executive specialized in managing hotels and convention centres
• He has a graduate of BCIT in the Hospitality Management program
• He has a history of advocacy for seniors and veterans

Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Greisbach) NDP

• Elected as MP for Edmonton Greisbach in 2021
• NDP Critic for Treasury Board; Diversity and Inclusion; Youth; Sport; and Post-secondary Education
• Also a member of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
• First openly Two-Spirit person and Alberta's only Indigenous Member of Parliament

Valerie Bradford (Kitchener South – Hespeler) Liberal

• Elected as MP for Kitchener South – Hespeler in 2021
• Also sits on the Science and Research committee and the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Science and Research
• Director of the Canada-Africa Association
• Prior to her election, Ms. Bradford worked as an economic development professional for the City of Kitchener

Han Dong (Don Valley North) Liberal

• Elected as MP for Don Valley North in 2019, and re-elected in 2021
• Also sits on the Industry and Technology committee
• Has served on the Ethics, and Human Resources committees in the past
• Co-Chair of the Canada-China Legislative Association
• Prior to his election, Mr. Dong worked with Toronto-based high-tech company dedicated to building safer communities and served as the leader of the Chinatown Gateway Committee established by Mayor John Tory

Peter Fragiskatos (London North Centre) Liberal - Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue

• Elected as MP for London North Centre in 2015, and re-elected in 2019 and 2021
• Serves as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue
• Has served on the Finance, Canada-China, Human Resources, Public Safety, and Foreign Affairs committees in the past
• Served as a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP)
• Prior to his election, Mr. Fragiskatos was a political science professor at Huron University College and King's University College, as well as a frequent media commentator on international issues

Brenda Shanahan (Châteauguay—Lacolle) Liberal

• Elected as MP for Châteauguay—Lacolle in 2015, and re-elected in 2019 and 2021
• Caucus Chair of the Liberal Party
• Has served on Public Accounts (2016 to 2018), as well as Ethics, Government Operations, and MAID committees in the past
• Has served as a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP)
• Prior to her election, Ms. Shanahan was a banker and social worker, who has also been involved in a number of organizations such as Amnesty International and the Canadian Federation of University Women

3. Summary of findings and recommendations of the OAG audit

On November 15, 2022, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) published its performance audit of Chronic Homelessness in Canada in the Fall Reports of the Auditor General of Canada.

The released audit has highlighted the key findings, recommendations, and responses to the Government of Canada's actions regarding chronic homelessness and housing outcomes for vulnerable Canadians.

The results of the report highlighted that federal departments did not know whether chronic homelessness had either increased or decreased due to the lack of data collection of Reaching Home projects. Results found minimal federal accountability for reaching the NHS goal of reducing chronic homelessness by 50% by 2027 to 2028, and identified the need for alignment, coordination, and integration of efforts between Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada.

OAG findings and recommendations

Finding 1

INFC and ESDC did not know whether their efforts to prevent and reduce chronic homelessness, were leading to improved outcomes. The departments did not know whether chronic homelessness and homelessness were increasing or decreasing since 2019 as a result of investments. There was an incomplete collection and analysis of data on Reaching Home and use of pandemic funding.

Recommendation 1

INFC should:

• collect and analyze data in a timely manner so that it can report up-to-date results on homelessness and chronic homelessness
• finalize the implementation of its online reporting platform
• use the information and data that it collects to determine why trends in homelessness are emerging and how its programs are addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness and chronic homelessness
• use the information that it collects and the resulting analysis to make program adjustments where required

Finding 2

Meeting Coordinated Access implementation goals unlikely

Recommendation 2

INFC should collaborate with designed communities and other partners to develop an action plan with timelines to address barriers to the implementation of coordinated access identified in its analysis of community reporting.

Finding 3

The CMHC did not know who was benefitting from its initiatives – it did not measure changes in housing outcomes for priority vulnerable groups.

Recommendation 3

CMHC should assess the impact of the programs on vulnerable groups at all stages of its National Housing Strategy

Finding 4

4.1 There was no federal accountability for reaching the National Housing Strategy goal to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% by the 2027 to 2028 fiscal year.

4.2 Federal housing and homelessness initiatives not well integrated or coordinated

Recommendation 4

CMHC and INFC should align and integrate their efforts to meet the housing needs of priority vulnerable groups, including people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Infrastructure Canada detailed action plan

OAG recommendation 1

Recommendation: Infrastructure Canada should collect and analyze data in a timely manner so that it can report up-to-date results on homelessness and chronic homelessness.

Departmental response 1

Agreed. While the COVID-19 pandemic required communities to shift their focus to pandemic response measures, impacting their ability to collect and report timely data and therefore the ability of the department to analyze and report up-to-date information, Infrastructure Canada recognizes the importance of emergency shelter and program data to support an understanding of homelessness and the extent to which the program is addressing needs.

With respect to shelter data, in early 2022, the department began work to identify technological solutions to accelerate data availability. A workplan for implementing these solutions will be developed by March 31, 2023.

Description of final expected outcome/result 1

Estimates of national shelter use and chronic homelessness that are available within a year.

Expected final completion date 1

Fall 2023

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 1

Fall 2022 (completed)

Develop a new methodology for estimating shelter use that accounts for changes that took place among shelter services due to the pandemic in 2020.

Develop the 2020 estimate of shelter use and chronic homelessness.

Spring 2023

Develop a workplan for further accelerating the availability of national shelter statistics.

OAG recommendation 2

Recommendation: Infrastructure Canada should finalize the implementation of its results reporting platform.

Departmental response 2

Agreed. The last phase of the new Reaching Home Results Reporting Online (RROL) system is expected to be released in fall 2022. This will allow for timely collection and analysis of annual program results.

Description of final expected outcome/result 2

The full implementation of the Reaching Home Results Reporting Online system will allow for timely program data collection and analysis, and will reduce burden on both communities to report, and Infrastructure Canada staff to validate and analyze the data in a timely manner.

Expected final completion date 2

November 2022

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 2

The RROL platform was released and made available to communities in February 2022 to enter their project details data for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023.

The module of the RROL system that will allow organizations to submit Annual Results and make amendments to Project Details is being launched to funded recipients throughout November 2022.

Training began with the Atlantic region on November 9, followed by Quebec Shared Delivery organizations and Ontario region on the week of November 15, Western-Territorial region on the week of November 21, and CISSS/CIUSSS in Quebec on the week of November 28.

Annual Results for 2021 to 2022 will be available by March 2023, while Annual Results for 2022 to 2023 will be available starting in June 2023.

OAG Recommendation 3

Recommendation: Infrastructure Canada should use the information and data that it collects to determine why trends in homelessness are emerging and how its programs are addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness and chronic homelessness.

Departmental response 3

Agreed. To explain trends in homelessness through data collected by the department, as well as other data available, new research products will be released by May 31, 2023, including 1 that will review known structural factors that influence homelessness and an analysis of their relative contribution to observed changes in shelter use.

Description of final expected outcome/result 3

Infrastructure Canada will put in place research plans that support projects that seek to determine the factors driving homelessness trends and whether funded projects are addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness, including chronic homelessness.

Timely data collection and analysis of program data will support informing on the achievement of Reaching Home expected outcomes and determine the extent to which the program contributes to preventing and reducing homelessness in Canada.

Expected final completion date 3

March 2023

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 3

Fall 2022

Put in place projects that seek to address understand the factors and drivers of homelessness, including:

• review of the literature on structural factors that impact homelessness and an environmental scan of data available for these factors, and
• a study focusing on the prevalence of labour market participation, employment history and income sources among people experiencing homelessness, as well as their impact on the likelihood of exiting homelessness

Winter 2023

Develop a 2023 to 2024 research plan that includes projects that:

• further explore factors driving homelessness trends, and
• assess alignment of funded projects for addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness

OAG Recommendation 4

Recommendation: Infrastructure Canada should use the information that it collects and the resulting analysis to make program adjustments where required.

Departmental response 4

Agreed. All of these information sources will support the department in making adjustments to the program where and when needed.

Description of final expected outcome/result 4

On an ongoing basis, when and where appropriate, Infrastructure Canada will make needed adjustments to the Reaching Home program.

Expected final completion date 4

Spring 2024

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 4

Winter 2023

Seek access to incremental funding provided through Budget 2022 (for 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026) supported by available homelessness and housing data, and community progress on coordinated access.

Spring 2023 to winter 2023

Review existing program policies and guidelines (for example, Reaching Home Directives, implementation of coordinated access) and identify changes that may be merited given available data, feedback from program partners, and the evolving context of Canada's housing market and homelessness challenges.

Spring 2024

Finalize funding agreements with recipients, starting on April 1, 2024, to continue to support them in their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness, including chronic homelessness.

As the Reaching Home program sunsets in 2027 to 2028, Infrastructure Canada will continue to analyze all available data (homelessness, housing, and administrative data), including feedback from partners to identify program gaps and opportunities. Any new requests for incremental program funding will use available data.

Infrastructure Canada should collaborate with designated communities and other partners to develop an action plan with timelines to address the barriers to the implementation of coordinated access that were identified in its analysis of community reporting.

OAG Recommendation 5

Recommendation: Infrastructure Canada should collaborate with designated communities and other partners to develop an action plan with timelines to address the barriers to the implementation of coordinated access that were identified in its analysis of community reporting.

Departmental response 5

Agreed. While the COVID-19 pandemic required communities to shift their focus to pandemic response measures, impacting their ability to pursue the transformational change required to introduce coordinated access, Infrastructure Canada recognizes the importance of supporting the ongoing efforts of communities to implement and maintain this approach to service delivery.

Subsequent to the period under audit, the Department implemented the following measures: doubled the funding identified to support communities in their implementation of coordinated access; enhanced and extended funding to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) to provide technical assistance and support to communities; and issued additional guidance related to coordinated access implementation and the outcomes-based approach.

Additionally, Infrastructure Canada will be working individually with all the communities that have not yet implemented coordinated access to help them achieve the requirements by March 31, 2023.

Description of final expected outcome/result 5

Infrastructure Canada will collaborate with designated communities to develop individualized action plans to address barriers to the implementation of coordinated access requirements and help them achieve these requirements.

Expected final completion date 5

March 2023

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 5

Summer 2022 (completed)

Release additional guidance related to coordinated access implementation, to clarify the Reaching Home program requirements and help communities to self-assess their progress.

Fall 2022 (completed)

Develop an engagement strategy that outlines next steps to support communities by putting individualized action plans in place, so that they can work to meet any outstanding coordinated access requirements by March 31, 2023.

Fall 2022 to spring 2023 (ongoing)

Support each community with their implementation of coordinated access by:

• holding a first meeting with each community in Fall 2022 to:
  • review their current status with Coordinated Access implementation in detail
  • discuss their plan to meet any outstanding minimum requirements by March 31, 2023, and
  • discuss local challenges they may be facing and the supports that may help them move forward
• ensuring each community has an action plan in place by December 31, 2022, that outlines their next steps to address any outstanding minimum requirements, as well as the timelines by which they will be met
• host subsequent meetings with communities on an as-needed basis, to continuously support communities towards coordinated access implementation
• encourage communities to work with CAEH to help them move forward with their plan to meet the minimum requirements, which could include supports through Built for Zero (BFZ-C) or training and technical assistance (TTA) funded through Reaching Home. In addition, Reaching Home funding can be used to help cover the costs of developing and implementing this plan

OAG Recommendation 6

[CMHC will lead on the development of the response]

Recommendation: The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada should:

• align, coordinate, and integrate their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness and chronic homelessness
• engage with central agencies to clarify accountability for the achievement of the National Housing Strategy targets to eliminate gaps

Departmental response 6

Agreed. While federal efforts are only 1 component of addressing homelessness, CMHC and Infrastructure Canada recognize that preventing and reducing homelessness, including chronic homelessness requires clear accountability, alignment of federal initiatives and cross-jurisdictional support and efforts. While CMHC is the lead and accountable for the NHS as a whole, CMHC and Infrastructure Canada will work with central agencies by December 31, 2023, to clarify accountability for the achievement of the chronic homelessness NHS target.

In support of improved alignment, coordination and integration on homelessness and chronic homelessness including prevention, subsequent to the initial audit period, an Assistant Deputy Minister-level committee between CMHC and Infrastructure Canada was established to collaborate more formally on infrastructure, housing and homelessness. Two additional interdepartmental committees will be struck in 2022 to 2023: one across federal organizations to facilitate efforts on chronic homelessness; and the other with Veterans Affairs Canada to support the implementation of the new Veteran Homelessness Program.

Beyond improving federal governance structures, by December 31, 2022, CMHC and Infrastructure Canada will develop a targeted awareness strategy to ensure that Reaching Home funding recipients can maximize opportunities available through other National Housing Strategy programs that could support their efforts to address homelessness. To promote the ongoing awareness of opportunities, Reaching Home funding recipients will be encouraged to integrate regional CMHC staff into community-level planning around funding through existing structures such as Community Advisory Boards.

For cross-jurisdictional support and efforts, 1 mechanism that is used is the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Forum on Housing which provides opportunities to discuss the implementation of the National Housing Strategy and assess its effectiveness. CMHC is the co-chair of the FPT Housing Forum at the deputy and senior officials' levels and Infrastructure Canada is also represented.

Description of final expected outcome/result 6

[Suggested HPD input]

Improved alignment, coordination and integration of federal efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness and chronic homelessness.

Clear federal accountability for the achievement of the National Housing Strategy targets.

Expected final completion date 6

December 31, 2023

Key interim milestones (description/dates) 6

[Suggested HPD input]

Fall 2022 (completed)

Establish an Assistant Deputy Minister-level committee between INFC and CMHC to collaborate more formally on infrastructure, housing, and homelessness. This will lead to stronger policy collaboration to achieve federal housing and homelessness objectives, including supporting the creation of more deeply affordable housing.

Winter 2023

Establish 2 additional Assistant Deputy Minister-level committees to improve alignment, coordinated an integration:

• an interdepartmental committee on chronic homelessness that will meet regularly to facilitate greater coordination and alignment between organizations on efforts related to homelessness and chronic homelessness
• an interdepartmental committee to promote alignment, share emerging gaps, and coordinate the range of federal initiatives available to support the implementation of the Veteran Homelessness Program

Develop an awareness strategy for funding opportunities for the homeless-serving sector. This work is intended to ensure that Reaching Home's funding recipients are aware of other available funding opportunities and programs offered through the National Housing Strategy (NHS).

Part of the awareness strategy will also include ways to encourage Reaching Home funding recipients to integrate regional CMHC staff into community-level planning around funding through existing structures, such as Community Advisory Boards (CABs).

Winter to spring 2023

CMHC and INFC will collaborate to clarify and define federal accountable for the National Housing Strategy's target to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% by 2027 to 2028, including:

• the lead federal organization responsible for the target, along with supporting federal organizations included in the scope of the target, and
• identify federal initiatives contributing to the target's achievement to reduce and eliminate gaps

Summer to fall 2023

CMHC and INFC will leverage the forthcoming interdepartmental committee on chronic homelessness to assess this stream of work on federal accountability for the National Housing Strategy target and examine gaps. Officials will engage with the Privy Council Office, Department of Finance Canada, and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to clarify federal accountability before December 31, 2023.

4. Issues (title not provided in original binder)

a. Key messages and Qs and As - OAG audit of chronic homelessness

ESDC key messages

We welcome the work and attention that the OAG's Audit has brought on the critical issue of homelessness.

ESDC/Service Canada's current role in the Reaching Home program is as a service delivery provider. Service Canada manages Reaching Home contribution agreements on behalf of Infrastructure Canada.

Since October 2021, the lead for the program was transferred to Infrastructure Canada to support the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion. It is also the lead respondent for the OAG audit on chronic homelessness.

Our role in service delivery involves 3 aspects:

• first, we administer the 4 regional streams of the Reaching Home program
• second, we provide administrative support to the 2 national streams delivered by Infrastructure Canada
• third, Service Canada NHQ undertakes a program oversight role through the provision of operational guidance and business expertise

On the issue of data collection, we agree this is critical information needed to support the program and its clients.

At the onset of the pandemic, ESDC looked to ensure that negative impacts on recipients, their clients and stakeholders were alleviated, wherever possible.

As a result, ESDC officials introduced flexibilities for the entire Grants and Contributions portfolio that included providing flexibilities in submitting required data and reporting. These flexibilities would have applied to the Reaching Program.

While flexibilities were provided to allow for recipients and their sub-agreement holders to focus on the immediate and serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore we acknowledge that there were delays in collecting the Reaching Home data, Service Canada continued to work with recipients to ensure that reporting requirements were still met.

ESDC will continue to collaborate with Infrastructure Canada to address the critical priority of preventing and reducing homelessness in Canada.

Background information

1. Background on Reaching Home

Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy, launched on April 1, 2019, is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing Homelessness across Canada.

Reaching Home is designed to support the goals of the National Housing Strategy, in particular, to support the most vulnerable Canadians in maintaining safe, stable and affordable housing and to reduce chronic homelessness nationally by 50% by fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

2. Funding streams

This program is comprised of 6 funding streams aimed at supporting local efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness.

Regional funding streams – delivered through Service Canada regional offices:

• Designated Communities
• Rural and Remote Homelessness
• Indigenous Homelessness
• Territorial Homelessness

National funding streams – managed by the Homelessness Policy Directorate (HPD), with support from Service Canada:

• Community Capacity and Innovation
• Distinctions-Based Approaches funding

3. Program objective

Reaching Home seeks to streamline access to housing and supports for people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness, by coordinating local services to achieve community-wide outcomes using real-time data.

In particular, Reaching Home is focused on supporting Canadian communities to achieve:

• an overall reduction in homelessness
• a reduction in new inflows into homelessness
• a reduction in returns to homelessness
• a reduction in Indigenous homelessness, and
• a reduction in chronic homelessness

4. Role of community entities

Outside of Quebec, Reaching Home uses a third-party delivery model where a local organization (for example, a municipal government or not-for-profit) known as the Community Entity enters into a contribution funding agreement with Employment and Social Development Canada.

The Community Entity brings together community stakeholders to form a Community Advisory Board. All Community Entities must have a Community Advisory Board (CAB) or Regional Advisory Board (RAB) in place to set the direction to prevent and reduce homelessness in the community or region.

The Community Entity works with community stakeholders, including the CAB to oversee the development and implementation of a community-wide approach to prevent and reduce homelessness.

Utilizing Reaching Home funds allocated to the community, the Community Entity undertakes the responsibility to solicit project proposals, approve projects, contract and monitor all agreements with third-party service providers, report on its activities and disbursements, collect and share data and information and report on the results.

In Quebec, the Designated Community and Rural and Remote Homelessness streams are administered through a Canada-Quebec Agreement that respects the jurisdiction and priorities of both governments in addressing homelessness. The Indigenous Homelessness stream is administered directly by Service Canada

5. Service Canada's role in program delivery: Service Canada regions and Program Operations Branch oversight

Service Canada's 4 regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and Western-Territories) work with a suite of community organizations across Canada to implement Reaching Home's 4 regional streams:

• Designated Communities
• Rural and Remote Homelessness
• Indigenous Homelessness, and
• Territorial Homelessness

The work of Service Canada primarily includes the following key activities:

Regional Service delivery: Service Canada is responsible for the administration and management of funding agreements (contribution agreements) with recipients. This includes the full range of agreement management activities: the planning, intake, set-up, negotiation (both initial and amendments), monitoring and closing of Reaching Home agreements. Service Canada is the primary interlocutor with recipients (Community Entities), and also manages agreements with the Government of Quebec.

Community engagement and advisory functions: Service Canada is actively engaged in supporting local community organizations, providing advice to recipients on program implementation, as well as acting as ex-officio advisers on the Community Advisory Boards (which are responsible for setting local priorities and recommending projects).

In Quebec, both the Designated Community and the Rural and Remote Homelessness streams are delivered through Canada-Quebec Agreements. The Indigenous Homelessness stream in Quebec is administered directly by Service Canada.

In total, Service Canada manages approximately 118 agreements with roughly 90 recipients across Canada.

POB Oversight: Service delivery is supported by a business expertise function located at national headquarters (Program Operations Branch). This includes the provision of guidance specifically for Reaching Home, but also more broadly for grants and contributions.

6. Memorandum of Understanding and upcoming transition of service delivery to INFC

On October 26, 2021, an Order in Council (OIC) transferred the responsibilities for the Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy, from ESDC to INFC.

The transfer will occur in 2 phases:

• Phase 1 (October 26, 2021, to March 31, 2022). During this phase the Homelessness Policy Directorate (HPD) and the Reaching Home program continued operations as normal while working towards the formal administrative transfer of HPD staff to INFC on April 1, 2022
• Phase 2 involves the continued support of INFC in the delivery of the Reaching Home program and certain IT support to HPD through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the fiscal year 2022 to 2023

The MoU allows Service Canada to continue providing service delivery of Reaching Home until March 31, 2023.

7. Agreement management

The regional Service Canada representative facilitates and supports the implementation of Reaching Home in communities while respecting the program's terms and conditions.

Service Canada representatives are responsible for the effective administration of the recipient agreement throughout the project life cycle.

These responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

• providing support, guidance and direction to the Community Entity and Community Advisory Board on Reaching Home Terms and Conditions and related policies
• activity and financial monitoring to ensure accordance with Reaching Home Terms and Conditions, applicable Departmental guidelines and policies and compliance with the terms of the funding agreement
• payments and financial management
• facilitating communication between the Community Entity and Community Advisory Board
• mobilizing and assisting community stakeholders in the development of community-based approaches to homelessness
• providing support and assistance in building or strengthening existing partnerships among community stakeholders and other levels of government
• ensuring inclusive representation on the Community Advisory Board
• actively participating with other government and community partners in discussion and analysis to identify strategies for partnerships, leveraging of other resources, and evaluation

8. Reporting requirements and Service Canada role in collection of reports and data

Reporting requirements described in the contribution agreement are managed by Service Canada.

Normally, a recipient would advise Service Canada in advance if they will not be able to meet the deadline for a submission. The recipient would provide, or be asked to provide, a rationale for the delay as well as for the suggested date for late submission.

Depending on the situation, Service Canada could approve the late submission or seek approval, as required. Service Canada would also enquire, depending on the report, whether any additional departmental supports are required to assist the recipient. Service Canada would follow-up regularly to ensure the report will be submitted.

Guidance for escalation is provided to Service Canada through the Centre of Expertise for Grants and Contributions.

• The Centre of Expertise (CoE) escalation protocol for problematic contribution agreements provides Service Canada with a path for escalating and resolving issues, and the course of action will depend on the nature and scope of the problem and the implications
• Where initial efforts to resolve the issue are ineffective, the escalation protocol is engaged in order to move forward with any punitive action
• The escalation protocol provides a measured, progressive system where individuals with increasing levels of authority are engaged if actions taken to address the issue are ineffective and corrective actions must be progressive and balanced
• All formal warnings and escalations are administered by Service Canada representatives

9. COVID-19 approved flexibilities provided for all ESDC grant and contribution funding recipients

The COVID-19 pandemic placed significant pressures on the homeless-serving sector in Canada, which had to transform how services were delivered to prevent outbreaks among individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

As such, COVID-19 impacted the capacity of communities to dedicate resources towards the implementation of a Coordinated Access system and the transition towards an outcomes-based and data-driven approach, including the timely collection and reporting of homelessness data.

To help mitigate pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 the Programs Operations Branch's Centre of Expertise introduced flexibilities to all ESDC contribution recipients (including under Reaching Home), regarding the submission of documents and reports.

• This included provisions for regions and other program staff to give additional time for completion of required submissions on a case-by-case basis. These flexibilities were in place until September 30, 2021.

During this time, recipients were still expected to meet the submission deadlines described in their agreement. However, if recipients were not able to meet those timelines, Service Canada documented the reason for the delay and the estimated date of submission. If the reasons were COVID-19 related, Service Canada would apply the Centre of Expertise flexibilities in terms of the dates for extensions.

INFC and ESDC reported to the OAG that the departments collectively made the decision to extend community reporting deadlines in order to help facilitate communities' pandemic responses, which led to some delays in the collection and analysis of results.

ESDC questions and answers

1. How is Reaching Home delivered?

Reaching Home is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness. It provides direct funding to communities across Canada to support their efforts in addressing their local homelessness needs and priorities.

Outside of Quebec, regional funding is delivered through contribution agreements with a third party; a delivery model known as the "Community Entity" model. Under this model, a community body (for example a municipal government or non-profit organization) is entrusted to manage Reaching Home funding, and has the ability to select, approve and manage projects in the local area. A local or regional Community Advisory Board is responsible for establishing local priorities (for example through a community plan) and for recommending projects to the Community Entity for approval.

In Quebec, Reaching Home funding is primarily delivered through 3 Canada-Quebec agreements. Indigenous Homelessness funding is not covered by a Canada-Quebec agreement and is provided directly by Service Canada's regional office.

2. What is Service Canada's role with respect to Reaching Home?

Reaching Home is comprised of 6 funding streams. The following 4 are delivered by Service Canada regions:

• the Designated Communities stream provides direct financial support to 64 urban centres located in every province of the country
• the Rural and Remote Homelessness stream funds homelessness-related initiatives in rural and remote areas that are located outside of Designated Communities in each province
• the Indigenous Homelessness stream provides funding targeted to Indigenous service providers to address the specific needs of Indigenous people living off-reserve who are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, homelessness. Funding under this stream is directed to 30 communities and 7 regional areas, located in every province except Prince Edward Island, and
• the Territorial Homelessness stream provides funding to communities in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to address the unique homelessness challenges in the territories

These streams are delivered by 4 Service Canada regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and Western-Territories). It includes the management of approximately 106 agreements with roughly 80 recipients. The Service Canada regions have a direct relationship with the Community Entities and are responsible for the set-up, management and monitoring of Reaching Home contribution agreements. In addition, Service Canada regions are responsible for engagement with community organizations, participation in Community Advisory Boards, and co-delivering Reaching Home projects in under-served regions.

Two other functions are undertaken by Service Canada. A program oversight function, located at NHQ, that provides functional and operational guidance, and support to the management of grants and contributions for the 2 streams delivered by Infrastructure Canada (the Distinction-based stream and the Community, Capacity and Innovation Stream).

Lastly, ESDC (IITB) has a role in the technical development and maintenance of IT systems to support the Reaching Home program.

3. Who has accountability for this program? Doesn't the OAG underline that blurred accountability is a concern?

It is clear that Infrastructure Canada has full accountability for this program, including any policy authority, financial authority and is responsible for any changes to the program. Since October 2021, Reaching Home falls under the accountability of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion and all Reaching Home appropriations are provided to Infrastructure Canada. At the request of Infrastructure Canada, Service Canada delivers a portion of the Reaching Home program. In turn, Infrastructure effectively pays Service Canada for this service through a departmental transfer of funds.

The exact roles that Service Canada are undertaking is codified through a Memorandum of Understanding. Should there be any changes required to the program; this would be the responsibility of INFC. INFC would then direct Service Canada to enact these changes within the parameters of the MoU. Furthermore, if any additional roles were requested for Service Canada or if any changes to the program would have significant operational impacts, it would likely require re-negotiation of the MoU.

4. How is Service Canada able to deliver this program?

Under ESDC's enabling legislation – the Department of Employment and Social Development Act or DESDA – the department has authorities to deliver programs on behalf of other departments. This allows other departments to leverage Service Canada's national and experienced service delivery network in order to support Canadians from coast to coast to coast. However, accountability for the program does not transfer to ESDC and rests with the home department/responsible Minister.

5. Why did a portion of the delivery stay with ESDC?

In order to ensure there was minimal impact on recipients and clients, ESDC was retained to provide service delivery to their existing client base. This allowed for a continuity of service provided to the recipients of the Reaching Home funding during the transition.

6. What is ESDC's previous role with respect to the Reaching Home Program?

From its launch in 2019 to the Order-in-Council in October 2021, ESDC was the program lead for the Reaching Home program. This included being responsible for both the policy function and service delivery. As of October 2021, accountability for the program is now with the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, supported by Infrastructure Canada. Service is responsible for undertaking service delivery on behalf of Infrastructure Canada.

7. ESDC was responsible and accountable for Reaching Home during most of the audit period. Why didn't ESDC do more to fix the issues then?

Yes, ESDC was responsible for the Reaching Home programs from its launch in 2019 to the Order-in-Council in October 2021. The department made every effort to address chronic homelessness in Canada during that time. I would defer to my colleagues in Infrastructure Canada as the program lead as they have the subject matter expertise to provide an account of all the positive work the team did during that period as well as their efforts to improve the program moving forward.

8. The report mentions that the audit focused on whether ESDC and INFC prevented and reduced chronic homelessness. What did ESDC do to prevent and reduce chronic homelessness?

ESDC was responsible for the Reaching Home programs from its launch in 2019 to the Order-in-Council in October 2021. I would defer to my colleagues in Infrastructure Canada as the program lead as they have the subject matter expertise to provide an account of all the positive work the team did during that period as well as their efforts to improve the program moving forward.

9. How could ESDC not know whether its efforts to prevent or reduce chronic homelessness were working or achieving results before the file was transferred?

ESDC was responsible for the Reaching Home programs from its launch in 2019 to the Order-in-Council in October 2021. The department made every effort to address chronic homelessness in Canada during that time. I would defer to my colleagues in Infrastructure Canada as the program lead as they have the subject matter expertise to provide an account of all the positive work the team did during that period as well as their efforts to improve the program moving forward.

10. What was Service Canada's role in the collection of data for the Reaching Home Program?

Service Canada officers act as the main point of contact with Community Entities (recipients). For data collection, Infrastructure Canada sets out the data requirements. Service Canada then ensures that these requirements are included in the contribution agreements. Once information needs to be collected, Service Canada's role is to request and collect the required data from recipients. This often involves clarifying requirements (with support from HPD), following-up with organizations to assist them in providing the requisite information in a timely manner and validating certain project-level information. Once collected, the information is then provided to Infrastructure Canada.

11. Why did Service Canada officials not do more to ensure this important data was collected in a timely manner?

Service Canada seeks wherever possible to collaborate with recipients to ensure they are able to meet the requirements in the contribution agreements. This often requires collaboration, communication and flexibility with the recipient to ensure timelines are met.

In March 2020, in an immediate response to the severe challenges faced by all Canadians by the COVID-19 pandemic, several flexibilities were put in place to support organizations in dealing with the extreme difficulties presented by the pandemic. These flexibilities were applied to the entire Grants and Contributions portfolio to reduce, wherever possible, negative impacts on recipients and their clients and stakeholders. One of these measures was to provide organizations with significant flexibility in their reporting requirements. These flexibilities were in place until September 2021. Since that time, Service Canada has resumed regular business requirements.

These flexibilities would have been applied to the Reaching Home program as well.

However, these flexibilities did not mean that reporting requirements were neglected. Recipients were still expected to provide the information as stated in their agreement, but if there were COVID-19 considerations that caused delays in submitting the requisite information, extensions were negotiated. Service Canada continued to provide support to organizations with the manual data collection (given the online module was not yet launched at this time) to ensure that the data was submitted and that the requirements of the contribution agreements were met.

12. What happens if organizations simply refuse to provide the information in a timely manner?

Wherever possible, Service Canada attempts to solve any issues in a collaborative manner with the recipient. However, in situations where collaboration has not resulted in the desired behaviour, Service Canada has a protocol that establishes a process for escalating corrective measures as a means to resolve issues. Given the pandemic context and the willingness of Community Entities to continue working to provide the requested data, non-compliance corrective measures were not taken for any Reaching Home recipient.

13. In what situations would you grant an extension to the timeline?

Extensions to timelines are assessed on a case-by-case basis by both Service Canada and Infrastructure Canada. All parties must agree on the extension and a plan is put in place for how the requirements will be provided prior to the revised deadline.

14. What was ESDC's role with respect to the Results Reporting Online Platform (RROL)?

ESDC (IITB) was responsible for the technical development of the RROL platform based on the business requirements provided by Infrastructure Canada.

15. Why were there delays with the development of the RROL Platform?

When the pandemic hit, all of ESDC was required to re-assess and prioritize in all areas to support the Government's pandemic response. The development of the RROL platform was therefore impacted as IT resources were partially directed to other priority areas, such as support for additional online services to Canadians including delivering the new online solutions e-Service and e-SIN, (and to a lesser extent to support the departmental priority for the OAS-SIS system). While work did continue on RROL, the timelines of this and other projects were impacted.

16. What is ESDC's role with respect to oversight of the Reaching Home Program?

Service Canada NHQ has a program oversight role that supports service delivery by providing operational guidance and business expertise to regions. It also involves coordinating among different delivery centers to increase consistency and efficiency of delivery. Furthermore, program oversight provides guidance and support to regions in the management of contribution

Information only - INFC questions and answers

1. What are the goals of Reaching Home?

The main objective of Reaching Home is to streamline access to housing and supports for people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness, by coordinating local services to achieve community-wide outcomes using real-time data.

In particular, Reaching Home is focused on supporting Canadian communities to achieve:

• an overall reduction in homelessness
• a reduction in new inflows into homelessness
• a reduction in returns to homelessness
• a reduction in Indigenous homelessness, and
• a reduction in chronic homelessness

2. What new funds were announced in Budget 2022 to support the homeless-serving sector?

Budget 2022 provided an additional $562.2 million for Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy over 2 years, beginning in 2024 to 2025, for Infrastructure Canada to maintain the funding level from 2023 to 2024.

In addition to the incremental funding announced under the Reaching Home program, Budget 2022 also provided $18.1 million over 3 years, starting in 2022 to 2023, to Infrastructure Canada to conduct research on the additional measures needed to end chronic homelessness.

Finally, Budget 2022 also provided $62.2 million over 3 years to support a new Veterans Homelessness Program that will provide services and rent supplements to Veterans experiencing homelessness, in partnership with community organizations. This is in addition to the funding announced in Budget 2021, for a total of approximately $107 million over 5 years starting in 2022 to 2023.

3. What successes has Reaching Home achieved since its inception?

Between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2021, Reaching Home committed over $652 million to support more than 3,300 projects to over a dozen vulnerable populations. These projects vary in duration from 1 to 5 years. The majority of these projects focus on activity areas such as: Basic Needs Services; Housing Placement; Prevention and Shelter Diversion; Economic Integration Services; and COVID-19 Temporary Accommodations. Through these projects, over 62,000 people were prevented from becoming homeless and nearly 32,000 people experiencing homelessness were placed into housing during the first 2 years of Reaching Home. This includes people with addictions, chronic homelessness, people with mental and physical disabilities and Indigenous Peoples.

4. What activity areas and targeted populations have Reaching Home supported?

The largest activity area supported by Reaching Home since April 2019 has been basic needs services, which have been provided through 2,302 projects. Additionally, Reaching Home also supported housing needs, prevention and shelter diversion, income education and employment assistance, COVID-19 supports, and emergency shelter facility. Through these projects, a diverse group of targeted populations were serviced. This includes but is not limited to people who identify as 2SLGBTQI+, people fleeing domestic violence, immigrants and refugees, and veterans.

5. Why is the Government funding research on ways to eliminate chronic homelessness?

Since the 2020 Speech from the Throne, the Government has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to working with partners to end chronic homelessness in Canada. However, in its recent April 7, 2022, Budget, the Government of Canada identified a target date of ending chronic homelessness by 2030.

Several communities across the country have made progress in reducing chronic homelessness, supported by existing investments including through Reaching Home. However, the Reaching Home program was not designed to entirely eliminate chronic homelessness, nor can the Government of Canada do this alone.

Recognizing that communities experience persistent barriers in addressing chronic homelessness even after implementing Reaching Home minimum requirements, Budget 2022 announced an investment of $18.1 million over 3 years to conduct research about further measures that could contribute to eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada.

More specifically, and in order to further progress in this area and determine what additional measures are required to end chronic homelessness, the Government is funding action research over the next 3 years that will test innovative solutions to overcome barriers that impede progress on addressing chronic homelessness within a community.

Findings from the research will be help guide the Government's response to homelessness by identifying areas where federal actions could make a difference, as well as to help communities with this work through information sharing and innovation.

6. How does the NHS support people experiencing chronic homelessness?

The NHS aims to respond to the housing needs of the most vulnerable Canadians. The Strategy supports people experiencing homelessness through Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy, a community-based program delivered by Infrastructure Canada, aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada.

While the main goal of the NHS is to make affordable, suitable, and adequate housing accessible for the most vulnerable Canadians, the Strategy addresses needs across the entire housing continuum – from homelessness to affordable homeownership, pursuing the achievement of bold social outcomes that will see more Canadians able to transition along the housing continuum.

As of June 30, 2022, the NHS overall has made commitments to support the creation of over 110,000 new housing units, including more than 42,500 affordable units and affordability support for more than 162,000 households. Through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, funding was committed to make available more than 2,000 shelter spaces and under the Rapid Housing Initiative, more than 2,500 units for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are currently built or under construction.

In addition, the NHS Act included the creation both a National Housing Council and a Federal Housing Advocate. The role of the National Housing Council is to promote participation and inclusion in housing policy and advise the Minister responsible for the NHS on ways to improve the effectiveness of the Strategy. The Federal Housing Advocate's role is to investigate systemic housing issues facing Canadians who are vulnerable and prepare an annual report to the Government on findings and recommendations.

7. How do housing programs address the needs of those in greatest need?

The National Housing Strategy is a tool kit that targets the various housing needs of Canadians from every angle.

Increasing all types of supply within the housing landscape is an important step in ensuring everyone has a place to call home.

From creating shelters and transitional housing, including for those experiencing homelessness, to creating more rental supply, to making affordable housing more attainable, to bringing the dream of homeownership back within reach - every program and initiative tackles a different challenge to ensure no one is left behind.

For instance, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) is designed to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians through the rapid construction of affordable housing, and is now a $4 billion program -- including $1.5 billion through Budget 2022. So far, the RHI has helped create over 2,500 new units for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF) is another NHS program that gives priority to projects that help people who need it most, including people living with disabilities, those with mental health or addiction issues, veterans, and young adults. So far, more than 2,000 shelter and transitional housing spaces are or will be created through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, and with a budget of $13.2 billion, by 2027/28, the NHCF plans to create up to 60,000 new homes; repair up to 240,000 homes; create or repair at least 4,000 shelter spaces for victims of family violence; create at least 7,000 new homes for seniors; and create at least 2,400 new homes for people with developmental disabilities.

In September 2022, the Government of Canada also introduced legislation for a proposed 1-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit program, which would be a 1-time $500 payment to renters facing housing affordability challenges as part of the Government's broader efforts to make life more affordable for Canadians. It would be a federally delivered benefit that would operate separately from the Canada Housing Benefit co-funded and delivered by provinces and territories.

Given that many factors related to housing do not fall under federal jurisdiction, working closely with CMHC's partners at all levels of government, community leaders, and housing proponents is crucial in addressing housing challenges.

We need to consider factors such as diversity, inclusivity, densification, and innovation as well as challenges such as climate change and "nimbyism" in order to achieve complete communities where everyone has a place to call home.

8. How is housing affordability defined?

Affordable housing, defined as housing that costs less than 30% of before-tax household income, is the terminology used to determine whether a household's housing is affordable to them specifically.

While some programs aim to improve housing affordability through the creation of additional housing units, including below-market rent units (that is "affordable units") such as NHCF, other programs improve housing affordability through the creation of units that adjust rent based on households' income (that is, housing is affordable to their tenants) such as RHI.

The NHS is comprised of a variety of initiatives which form a toolkit to support Canadians across the entire housing continuum. As such, programs have different affordability requirements depending on the intent of the program.  For instance, the NHCF identifies the minimum requirement in terms of affordability for units that will be required to charge less than the market rent (that is, affordable housing is used to refer to below-market rent units). The program does not expect or imply the units would be affordable to all households.

9. Why doesn't CMHC know who is benefiting from its initiatives?

CMHC knows which population groups are targeted at application and has a process in place to verify the units remain targeted to those households. Due to construction timelines, there is a lag between when projects are funded and when CMHC can verify who is effectively benefitting from an initiative. CMHC provides some public reporting on which vulnerable population groups are being targeted by its programs through the Progress on the National Housing Strategy, found on Placetocallhome.ca.

CMHC is working on accessing more comprehensive data and commits to reporting that data by December 2023 on Placetocallhome.ca.

CMHC will report on its progress in achieving this commitment through its website as well as through the Triennial NHS Report to Parliament which is expected to be published in fiscal 2023 to 2024.

10. Who is accountable for meeting the NHS targets?

CMHC has the overall lead for the NHS. The gap identified in the report only relates to the accountability on the achievement of the chronic homelessness target.

Addressing chronic homelessness is a multifaceted issue requiring a broad spectrum of support across all levels of Government and partners. While federal efforts are only 1 component of addressing homelessness, CMHC and Infrastructure Canada recognize that preventing and reducing homelessness, including chronic homelessness requires clear accountability, alignment of federal initiatives and cross-jurisdictional support and efforts. This is why CMHC and Infrastructure Canada will work with central agencies to clarify accountability of the chronic homelessness NHS target.

11. Why wasn't the Government of Canada able to collect the homelessness data in a timely manner?

Infrastructure Canada will continue to collaborate with partners to collect and conduct timely analysis of homelessness data, including data on chronic homelessness, to determine emerging homelessness trends and determine the extent to which the program is addressing the needs of the homelessness population.

As the COVID-19 pandemic added additional pressures to communities, limiting their ability to collect and report data in a timely fashion, the department was not able to analyze and report up-to-date information on homelessness. As such, the department will continue to leverage opportunities for timely data collection moving forward.

To support communities and ensure they have the tools they need to collect and report data, Infrastructure Canada launched the first phase of the Results Reporting Online (RROL) system in early 2022. The launch of the second phase of the RROL in November 2022 will be gradually rolled out to communities, thus further simplifying the process for collecting and analyzing annual results data. The information will continue to shape the program and allow the department to make adjustments as needed.

b. Reaching Home funding breakdown 2019 to 2022

Between 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2022, the Government of Canada invested $1.36 billion in Reaching Home

48% for base - (Consolidated Revenue Fund)

Objective

Focus on long-term sustainable solutions to homelessness; urban centres required to introduce an outcomes-based approach and coordinated service delivery

Core program activities:

• housing services including housing placements and housing set-up
• prevention and shelter diversion
• client support services including food and connections to income assistance
• coordination of resources and data collection, and
• capital investments including renovations for shelters and supportive housing

52% for emergency measures - (Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act and Consolidated Revenue Fund)

Objective

Reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and enhance prevention efforts to avoid virus exposure.

While core program activities could and still were pursued, a greater focus was placed on activities such as:

• physical distancing in emergency shelters
• temporary accommodations
• isolation shelters
• enhanced sanitation protocols and other health and safety measures
• delivery of basic needs services (for example, emergency shelter beds, food) without the need to link to housing stability, and
• sanitation and hygiene stations (for example, portable toilets and sinks)

Reaching Home Investment Breakdown

• 2019 to 2020
  • 203 million dollars Base Funding
  • 15 million dollars Emergency Measures Funding
  • 218 million dollars Total Funding
• 2020 to 2021
  • 213 million dollars Base Funding
  • 394.2 million dollars Emergency Measure Funding
  • 607.2 million dollars Total Funding
• 2021 to 2022
  • 237 million dollars Base Funding
  • 299.4 million dollars Emergency Measures Funding
  • 536.4 million dollars Total Funding
• 2019 to 2022
  • 653 million dollars Total Base Funding
  • 708.6 million dollars Total Emergency Measures Funding
  • 1,361.6 million dollars Total Funding