I want you to know, I’ve had far too many gut-wrenching meetings with parents on the wait-list for the Ontario Autism Program. We know that, under this government’s watch, the number of children with autism waiting to receive core services has more than doubled, to over 60,000 children. These numbers have real-world consequences for children and families.

One mother last week sat in my office in tears, worried about losing her home to finance care for her child. She’s had to pay out-of-pocket for services, calling every week, trying to figure out where her child is on the wait-list. There’s no answer and her daughter is becoming increasingly violent. The situation is so severe that the family finally secured urgent response services funding, but it’s a 12-week band-aid and the funding is coming to an end.

I want members to imagine the frustration and fear about what comes next, the unimaginable choice of caring for your child or a roof over your head. Some 60,000 children in this province and their parents are facing similar choices. We can do better. We must do better. These kids cannot wait longer. They need a needs-based program that works for everyone, regardless of age.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. Throughout Ontario, individuals and families are encountering challenges relating to housing availability and affordability. Recently, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced additional funding by our government that will help to support community housing providers across the province. This funding has the potential to make meaningful impact by providing much-needed housing for vulnerable individuals and families in my local community of Cambridge and the region of Waterloo.

Can the associate minister please provide further details on how our government is helping to increase the availability of affordable housing options for those most in need?

Can the associate minister please expand on how this additional funding will help support housing providers in addressing the needs of vulnerable individuals and families?

I do want to thank the great member for asking that very, very important question. Our government recognizes the urgent need for affordable housing right across our province, and that’s why last week, together with the federal government, we announced a joint investment of over $46 million to support the creation of 267 new affordable housing units across Ontario.

Through the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative, funding will be used for new construction, repairs and maintenance to sustain and expand community housing options. For example, Indwell’s St. Peter’s supportive housing project in Kitchener will receive $5.5 million to develop 41 affordable and supportive apartments for those on the region’s housing wait-list. This investment demonstrates our government’s commitment to tackling the housing supply crisis and improving the lives of vulnerable Ontarians.

The $46 million announced can also be used to support community housing providers whose original program arrangements are expiring and help them to become more sustainable. We also consulted with local housing providers and municipalities to understand where support is most urgently needed and strategically targeted groups like those Indwell will serve through tailored support and unit design.

Speaker, I’m confident that these 267 units will make a very big difference for those who need an affordable place to live close to home, because when community thrives, Ontario thrives.

Part of our plan has been, right from the beginning—part of the plan is that we understood how important it was to build houses across the province of Ontario, but not just single-family detached homes. We wanted to ensure that we had more purpose-built rentals because we were hearing stories like this on and on and on again.

One of the things the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has raised is how important it was that the federal government continue to contribute to the province of Ontario, but that they actually equalize that support. As you know, Mr. Speaker, they have reduced our funding by—I think it’s about $500 million when it comes to the housing support program in the province of Ontario. So I’d ask the member opposite if she could actually—the opposition could do us a favour. The NDP, of course, hold the balance of power in Ottawa, like they did here. If the NDP in Ottawa could do us a favour, if they could ask Jagmeet Singh to inquire with the federal government if he will equalize and send us that cheque for $500 million that is so important to the people of the province of Ontario so that we can continue to provide this valuable support.

I do want to thank the member for the question. Our Community Housing Renewal Strategy is providing over $4.4 billion in funding dedicated to sustaining, repairing and growing community housing and addressing homelessness. And as part of this, $1.2 billion through the social services relief fund is to improve housing and homeless shelter solutions, as well as support vulnerable people. And in January 2022, we launched the Streamline Development Approval Fund that makes more than $45 million available to Ontario’s 39 largest municipalities, including Toronto, to help them implement these initiatives. This is a government that has been providing and will continue to provide more than $936 million in much-needed funds to municipal service managers and Indigenous program administrators in 2023-24 and 2024-25 through many of these initiatives. It’s this government that’s getting it done. We—

My question is to the Premier. Maria, her husband and their four-year-old daughter have been living at the Christie refugee centre, a shelter, since February. The family found a rental home, applied for funding to help cover the cost of rent and were getting ready to move in when they were told that funding to this rent supplement program had been cut by the Conservative government and the program is no longer available to them.

Premier, what is your plan to help families like Maria’s move out of the shelter system into rental homes so they can build their lives here in Canada?

The city is asking for $20 million in funding from the Ontario Conservative government to help shelter residents move into permanent rental homes so they can rebuild their lives. Can this government say yes to the city of Toronto’s request?