Quebec and Ottawa are devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to create more affordable housing in Montreal.

Federal Minister of Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos announced Monday that the federal government will spend an extra $286 million on housing, rental units, and daycares over the next two years.

The provincial government will chip in $121 million.

These funds are in addition to the $288 million the federal government is providing under the Affordable Housing Agreement for 2014-2019.

Duclos says this new money should give housing groups some flexibility.

According to the Montreal housing group RAPSIM, the occupancy rate of homeless shelters in Montreal increased by about 10 percent last winter.

That doesn't necessarily mean more people were homeless, but it indicates that those who were homeless were more likely to spend time in a shelter.

A census conducted in 2015 showed about 3,000 people were homeless in Montreal.

RAPSIM said it was happy to learn of the extra funding, but wished it covered a longer period of time.