[homeles_ot-l] FW: Ontario starts to spend federal Aboriginal housing dollars! WI backgrounder

[Lynne Browne]

FYI…note Michael’s point:  There is another $60 million in federal
Aboriginal affordable housing dollars in the [Ontario] provincial
government’s vaults that is supposed to fund new homes in all parts of
Ontario outside of Toronto, but the province hasn’t yet released those
dollars. Minister Watson did acknowledge that the delivery of the Toronto
funds has been slow, and he promised that the Aboriginal housing dollars for
the rest of the province would start to flow shortly.

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: hhno-on-owner at povnet.org [mailto:hhno-on-owner at povnet.org] On Behalf
Of Michael Shapcott
Sent: November 26, 2008 2:31 PM
To: nhhn-can at povnet.org; hhno-on at povnet.org
Subject: [hhno-on] WI backgrounder: Ontario starts to spend federal
Aboriginal housing dollars!

 

Great news on the Toronto housing front today! Nancy Martin, President of
Miziwe Biik Development Corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with Jim Watson, Ontario’s housing minister, to administer a HYPERLINK
"http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page6072.aspx"$20 million affordable housing
program for Aboriginal people living in the Greater Toronto Area.

“We hope this will be the start of many partnerships with the Province to
help put our Aboriginal citizens on a level economic playing field with the
rest of Ontarians,” said Miziwe Biik Development Corporation President Nancy
Martin. 

“Our government and Aboriginal communities, working in partnership, are
launching a remarkable housing program to help off-reserve families in the
GTA,” said Minister Watson.

Miziwe Biik partnered with Nishnawbe Homes and Toronto Council Fire Cultural
Centre, plus the Chiefs of Ontario, to develop an Aboriginal housing and
homelessness strategy for the GTA last spring. The Wellesley Institute
worked closely with the Aboriginal organizations to provide research, policy
and strategic support. 

At the Wellesley Institute, our overall mission is to advance urban health,
and we know that housing is one of the most important requirements for a
healthy life. With our partners, we work to achieve practical and pragmatic
change – and today’s announcement is a big step forward.
  
At the signing ceremony earlier today, Aboriginal people and organizations
from across the GTA joined with municipal, provincial and federal officials
(and a large media contingent). It was a full-court press from the
provincial government, with a troika of cabinet ministers (housing minister
Watson was joined by Aboriginal issues minister Brad Duguid and local MPP
George Smitherman, who is Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and the
Deputy Premier).

While Minister Watson signed on the dotted line, and was happy to take
political credit (the media release prepared by the province was headlined:
“McGuinty government supports off-reserve communities in the GTA”), he
neglected to mention that every one of those twenty million dollars came
from the federal government. 

The money was part of the $1.6 billion in housing funds authorized by the
federal Parliament in 2005, most of which was allocated by the federal
government to Ontario and the other provinces and territories in 2006. It’s
taken more than two and one-half years for the province to pass along the
funds to Miziwe Biik – an Aboriginal agency – which will, in turn, ensure
that the money flows to projects that provide Aboriginal housing under
Aboriginal control.

There is another $60 million in federal Aboriginal affordable housing
dollars in the provincial government’s vaults that is supposed to fund new
homes in all parts of Ontario outside of Toronto, but the province hasn’t
yet released those dollars. Minister Watson did acknowledge that the
delivery of the Toronto funds has been slow, and he promised that the
Aboriginal housing dollars for the rest of the province would start to flow
shortly.

Apart from the stingy attitude of provincial politicians in failing to
credit the federal government, and federal Parliament, for supplying the
dollars, there are many reasons to celebrate today’s announcement:

*	Hundreds of great new affordable homes for Aboriginal people will be
built; 
*	Valuable momentum from today’s announcement will continue to
strengthen Aboriginal organizations in the GTA; 
*	Aboriginal people will be driving the housing process, and will
ensure that Aboriginal cultural values are built into the very fabric of the
new homes; and, 
*	The capacity of the Aboriginal community in Toronto to meet the
needs of its people has been enhanced. 

Of course, $20 million won’t solve the housing and homelessness problems
experienced by Aboriginal people throughout the Greater Toronto Area. But
today’s dollars, along with an Aboriginal home ownership program using
federal funding flowing through the City of Toronto that has already housed
several families, is an excellent start.

All in all, a very good day indeed!

-          Michael

 

* * *

 

Michael Shapcott, Director of Community Engagement

The Wellesley Institute, 45 Charles Street East - #101

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 1S2

Telephone - 416-972-1010, x231

Mobile - 416-605-8316

Facsimile - 416-921-7228

HYPERLINK "http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com"www.wellesleyinstitute.com

 


No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1813 - Release Date: 26/11/2008
8:53 AM



No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG. 
Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1813 - Release Date: 26/11/2008
8:53 AM
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/lists/private/homeles_ot-l/attachments/20081126/993a7dec/attachment-0001.htm>