I thank the honourable member for the question, and I thank all the members here in this House. Mr. Speaker, through our government, I thank the leadership of Premier Ford.

We have made this very clear from day one: This is an issue that affects all communities across the province, one that requires action, which is why, in December, Minister Williams joined me in announcing Ontario-STANDS. Mr. Speaker, it was a statement to the province that we take this issue seriously and we backed that up by investment, working with the federal government.

I’ve said this throughout the entire time that I’ve been a minister at this ministry: No woman or girl in this province should ever have to live with the fear of violence or threat or exploitation. We will stand with them. We will make sure every single provider that’s helping, in partnership with us across the province, will have a partner in our government. We will not let them down, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, through Ontario-STANDS, as I mentioned, when we work with the federal government, there are plenty of initiatives and supports in this statement and this action plan that the province has put forward.

The investments that we announced in December to all the partners on the ground—an additional $18 million for the duration of this fiscal year. That investment will increase. In budget 2024, an additional $13.5 million was added to the support.

There’s a lot of great work that’s being done underground by service providers and partners. We want to make sure they have the resources to be able to provide those supports. That needs to be backed by investments. We passed legislation to make sure that happens so that people are protected, but that needs to be backed by investments. I thank the Premier for the commitment, and I thank the Minister of Finance.

As I said, we will not let them down. We will make sure they have the supports they need on the ground to help every single person in every community.

I thank my honourable colleague for the very important question. Let me make it very clear: We said it, and the Premier has been very clear that we will make sure that no one in Ontario is left behind. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we are investing over $1.5 billion in the sector, to make sure that everyone receives service. Just to put it in perspective, that is $1 billion more than the previous government was investing, over half a billion dollars more than when we formed government, in supportive living for those who require service.

The previous government simply did not do enough. That wasn’t good enough for this Premier. That wasn’t good enough for this caucus. We said that we were not going to leave anyone behind. We are going to be there to provide them with the service. We’ve been there. I have visited literally every Community Living service, including the one in the member’s riding, to make sure that they know they have a partner in this government, and we will not abandon them like the previous government did. We will—

The member is talking about investment. I’d be more than happy to repeat that. Mr. Speaker, we’re investing over $3.7 billion in the developmental services sector this year. That is a billion dollars more than when we formed government. The member talks about housing. I’d be more than happy to repeat that, Mr. Speaker: Nearly a half a billion dollars more is being invested in supportive living for people in this province who rely on the housing.

And no, we’re not going to stop. We’re going to make sure that every single person in this province who relies on supports and services gets them, because before, in the previous government, they simply weren’t getting that. That’s not good enough for us. We’ll continue to fight for them. We’ll sure that they have the support they need.

I thank my honourable colleague for the question, Speaker.

This government has always been and will always be focused on making the lives of Ontarians better, particularly when it comes to finding a home. We’ve committed every resource available to ensuring families and individuals have a place to call home and a roof over their heads. That includes making sure that every person has access to the assistance and support they need.

Speaker, I was just in Mississauga alongside my colleague from Mississauga–Streetsville for an announcement for 40 supportive housing units with an investment of $4.5 million. We’ve invested $2.25 million in Brantford to create 26 bachelor units for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, $3 million in Guelph to create 16 units, $2.5 million in Barrie to create 14 units, $1.8 million in Windsor to create 26 units, and $1.1 million in Simcoe for 18 units.

These are just a few of the examples of how we are building 3,100 housing units. We’re making the capital investments through the Ontario Social Services Relief Fund so that—

I want to thank the member for the question and congratulate him on his election to the people’s House.

Ontarians are facing the rising cost of living and certainly a shortage of homes. Our government was re-elected with a strong mandate to help more Ontarians find more homes that meet their needs and their budgets.

We all know that Ontario accounts for two thirds of the population growth in Canada. That’s why, under our ambitious plan, our government will build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years to keep costs down and make life more affordable for all Ontarians. We’re also speeding up the approval process while implementing recommendations from the Housing Affordability Task Force. The steps that our government is taking are working. Over 100,000 homes have been built in 2021—and more than 13,000 new rental starts here in the province of Ontario; that’s the highest in over 30 years.

Speaker, next week I’m heading over to AMO in Ottawa to be able to continue collaboration with our municipal governments.

Our government’s policies have delivered historic results in getting more housing built faster, and they certainly complement our more than $4.3-billion investments over three years to grow and enhance community and supportive housing for vulnerable Ontarians and Indigenous peoples, address homelessness and respond to COVID-19.

The More Homes for Everyone plan, launched in March 2022, outlines the next steps we’re taking to address Ontario’s housing crisis, such as accelerating approval timelines and protecting homebuyers from unethical business practices. For example, changes were made to provide an incentive for municipalities to make decisions in a timely manner on zoning and site plan applications. Effective January 1, 2023, if a municipality does not make a decision within the legislated timeline, they would be required to gradually refund the application fee to the applicant. Municipalities could avoid lost revenues by improving processes to support timely decisions.

We remain steadfast—