[homeles_ot-l] City Budget- Alliance is on Wed 11:15 & press conference

Tue Dec 2 16:03:45 EST 2008

Hello all,

Tomorrow morning at 11:15 a.m., Marion Wright, the Vice Chair of the
Alliance to End Homelessness, will present to Council the attached
submission on the proposed Budget. We’ll be holding a press conference
outside Council Chambers just prior to that at 10:30.

Lynne

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)
147 Besserer Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7 
HYPERLINK "mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca"lbrowne at ysb.on.ca,  613-241-7913 ext 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca  

>From the submission…

Today we ASK for fiscally responsible decisions – Spend this $3.25 million
or add $3.3 million or more in costs to keep people homeless.

First

Keep the $1,750,000. for the Tenant Resource Centre and housing support
workers in the 2009 Budget. This is money that will help keep individuals
and families housed in an economic downturn and help them avoid becoming
homeless.HYPERLINK \l "BM__edn1"[i] This is a fiscally responsible budget
item that recognizes people on low incomes will be facing severe challenges
in a recession. 

Likely Fallout: We consider that it is probable that 350 households (1%) of
the 35,000 Ottawa households living on annual incomes of $18 thousand or
less could become homeless because of bad economic times. 

The City’s portion of shelter costs for 350 newly homeless single men or
women is $ 1,167,635 per year ($3,336/person). 

Many households have 2-3 family members. The total $1.75 million will cover
shelter costs alone for 525 new homeless people for one year. This Budget
needs to be pro-active and pay to keep people housed not to keep them
homeless.

Secondly: 

Keep the $1,000,000 to convert up to 100 existing subsidized social housing
units into targeted supportive housing for people with mental illnesses and
addictions in the Budget. In slightly less than 3 years this one budget line
covers off costs of keeping 100 chronically homeless people in shelters.
This cut does not make any sense. The city portion of the shelter cost alone
is $3,336 /person each year they remain homeless. The city budget also
includes related health, ambulance, social services and police. In less than
3 years this one budget line covers off costs which will otherwise be
ongoing – that’s how you end homelessness in a fiscally responsible way. 

Likely Fallout:  The cost to keep 100 people chronically homeless in Ottawa
is between $30,000 and $40,000 per person per year. This is $3 to $4 million
for homeless costs and for health, ambulance, hospital, social services,
police and other justice system costs many of which are in the city’s
budget. 

Finally:

Keep $500,000. for 3rd year of 10-year Community Funding Sustainability plan
in the Budget to assist the 107 health, recreation and social service
organizations who receive this money, among them the Day Programs helping
the homeless and those at risk of homelessness. This funding helps these
groups deal with unusual budget pressures in areas such as rent, utility
bills or costs of food so these groups can offer their current level of
service. This is not about service enhancement.

Likely Fallout:  Council knows these organizations have indicated they need
$1.138 million in this budget to meet current budget pressures. Council
knows too that this $500,000 cut will mean that there will likely be
reductions in services. Deferring sustainability funding doubles the impact
when people on low incomes need help more than ever. In the last economic
downturn the numbers of people seeking out the Day Programs rose and this
number has never returned to the earlier baseline figure. It is simply not
fiscally prudent to think fewer people will need this help in a recession.

In conclusion:

Let’s get personal about municpal leadership on affordable housing! 

We remind you that City Council pledged to create 500 new housing units a
year for those living on low income. In 2007 only 73 units of affordable
housing were created and over 9,000 households were on the social housing
waiting list. That can only be described as a failure of policy and it calls
into question Council’s commitment to increasing the affordable housing
supply and to supporting the new Community Action Plan on Homelessness.

More detail and cost statistics in attachment….

   _____  

HYPERLINK \l "BM__ednref1"[i] In 2007, 864 households at imminent risk of
losing their housing were among the 9,567 households helped to remain housed
in Ottawa by 16 agencies provide on-site or community-based services with
City, Provincial and Federal funding. Fourth Report Card on Ending
Homelessness in Ottawa, Jan-Dec 2007, HYPERLINK
"http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/"http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/.

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