[homeles_ot-l] Conservatives break September commitment to homeless

Wed Oct 8 14:34:07 EDT 2008

Hello everyone, 

Bad news yesterday! In September the Conservatives committed to 5 years of
homelessness and housing funding so we could plan more effectively to end
homelessness in Ottawa and stop wasting so much of our time every year or
two on fighting for funding renewals. Even before Election Day, their
platform has cut back the funding time frame and we have to ask what’s next.

Please circulate this message widely and please talk about this betrayal in
your contacts with all Ottawa candidates. Our media release is below and
attached. 

Thank you!

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  

Immediate Release

FEDERAL ELECTION

October 8, 2008

Conservatives break September commitment to homeless families and
individuals before Election Day!

The Conservative Party shocked many people in Ottawa and right across the
country when their platform reneged on the five year commitment to renew
housing and homelessness funding which was just announced Sept 18th. 

“I stood beside Ministers Baird and Solberg when they announced a five year
commitment of $1.9 billion ($387.9 million per year) for housing and
homelessness programs,” said Perry Rowe, Chair of the Alliance to End
Homelessness. “Now they’ve started to turn their back on our community!”

The Conservative platform released yesterday states they will help
homelessness programs for only two years and gives no time frame for the
affordable housing initiative or the renovation programs. 

“It took only 22 days to cut their help from five to two years,” said Mr.
Rowe. “How will they behave after the election? We now have to ask ourselves
if they really intend to help people who are homeless or at risk of losing
their homes when the federal homelessness and housing funding ends next
March.”

The five year commitment was in the Conservative funding announcement for
the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI), the housing renovation programs,
including the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP) and the
Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) which are all set to expire on March
31, 2009.

“Voters and leaders and candidates from the other parties need to call the
Conservatives on this betrayal,” urged Mr. Rowe!

For Comment, please Contact:

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness

147 Besserer Street, Ottawa ON  K1N 6A7, HYPERLINK
"mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca"lbrowne at ysb.on.ca 

Cell (613) 513-6647 or Office (613) 241-7913 ext 205

Below:  Mr. Harper’s Plan on housing and Mr. Baird’s Sept 18th Media
Release.

Page 11, Stephen Harper’s plan for Canadians

Helping Make Housing Affordable for Vulnerable Canadians

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are committed to ensuring that all
Canadians have an adequate quality of housing. We have extended the
Homelessness Partnering Strategy for the next two years and will maintain
funding to deal with homelessness at least at the current levels. We will
work with provinces, municipalities and charitable organizations to look at
ways of improving the effectiveness of federal dollars spent on homelessness
initiatives.

We have also renewed funding for the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance
Program to assist low-income Canadians in renovating their homes and for the
Affordable Housing Initiative, which supports the creation of new rental
housing units. 

HYPERLINK
"http://www.conservative.ca/media/20081007-Platform-e.pdf"http://www.conserv
ative.ca/media/20081007-Platform-e.pdf

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