Housing and Homelessness - Blog

Some weeks I find politicking especially hard to stomach. The recent response to the situation in Attawapiskat makes it one of those weeks.

When the community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency, they weren’t asking for a cyclical public debate about who is to blame. They weren’t asking to be a tool to shame or prop up certain political parties. And they certainly weren’t asking to be painfully reminded of Canada’s colonial attitudes in the arrival of a third-party manager.

They were asking for survival. For water, blankets, shelter. Read more »

We know that the recession significantly increased Canada’s poverty levels. But do Canada’s poor now risk being permanently left behind? In this series of blog posts, we’ll explore the economic indicators, updating the research in CPJ’s 2010 report on the recession, Bearing the Brunt. Check back over the next few weeks for new blog posts on each indicator!

Housing is the biggest expense for low income Canadians who have been facing an increasing affordability squeeze over the past decade. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) considers housing to be affordable if a household is spending less than 30% of its gross income on housing. In 2006, 40.3% of all renter households in Canada spent 30% or more of their income on shelter. Read more »

A dedicated group of MPs gave us reason to celebrate last week.

On Wednesday, November 17, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development, Social Development, and the Status of People with Disabilities (HUMA) released Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada. The report is the culmination of a major three-year study on the federal role in reducing poverty in Canada. Read more »

Hearing this statement at End Exclusion 2010 on November 2 caused me to sit up and pay attention. Its content is quite counter-intuitive. What is so wrong with treating everyone the same? Isn’t that what equality is? However, when you apply this question to society there are multiple points where it is clear the hard and fast rule of treating everyone the same has not, in fact, created equality. Read more »

There is something very important about asking the right question at the right time. Questions can spur thought and spark debate. They can open our minds to new possibilities and different perspectives. But more importantly, the right question can prompt action. October 19 is the National Day of Action on Homelessness. Where will you be? Read more »

On Friday September 27, Joe and I attended a workshop in Pembroke titled ‘Creating a Better Future for Our Children’ which was focussed on poverty and the Social Determinants of Health.  While I learned many interesting things and heard a lot of detailed statistics, the main theme of the day was definitely that poverty is bad for your health. Not surprised? Neither was I, but the information came from a perspective I had not considered before. Read more »

Last week we prepared two brochures for a group of Canadian high school students who were interested in contacting and writing letters to their Members of Parliament about supporting various justice initiatives. Based on legislation currently before the House of Commons, we decided to send them information on poverty elimination and housing.

Check out these brochures below! Read more »

Last week I attended a seminar on rental housing and human rights sponsored by the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) and Amnesty International Canada. Along with Leilani Farha from CERA and Alain Roy from Amnesty, speakers included Barbara Hall, the Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and Cherie Robertson, policy analyst with the Commission.

The new housing policy is based on the Ontario Human Rights Code against discrimination in housing. The role of the Commission is to illuminate this law so everyone understands their rights and responsibilities under the law. But there is no law protecting the right to access affordable housing in Canada, despite international laws and standards. Read more »

In a case of interesting timing, The Mark posted an op-ed I wrote on the lack of economic recovery for those hit hardest by the recession on the same day that the Globe and Mail headlined “Canada’s hot economy tops forecasts.” Rather than reiterate my arguments here as to why we should temper the recovery celebration, I’ll just send you to The Mark to check it out for yourself.

Over at the Progressive Economics blog, Erin Weir has a post pointing out that Canada’s stronger-than-expected first quarter GDP growth depended heavily on businesses restocking inventory and housing. We can’t count on either one to continue unabated, meaning that the need for government investment to stimulate the economy has not passed. Read more »

Housing is a major concern for many social policy and charity groups across the country, especially those focused on poverty. Canada has been without a national housing strategy since the mid 1990s, making it the only country in the G8 to be without such a strategy. Housing has become the responsibility of provincial and municipal governments who can’t keep up with the demands and needs.

Recently the Salvation Army released a report, Poverty shouldn’t be a life sentence: A report on the perceptions of homelessness and poverty in Canada. In this assessment of the state of homelessness in Canada, the report looks at the many factors of poverty that lead to homelessness, some of which include unemployment, disability and/or mental illness, domestic abuse, addictions, poor education and little or no access to affordable housing. Read more »