[homeles_ot-l] FW: WI federal election primer on housing

[Lynne Browne]

FYI as we lead up to an election, 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: August 31, 2008 12:49 PM
To: hhno-on at povnet.org; nhhn-can at povnet.org
Subject: [hhno-on] WI federal election primer on housing

 

Wellesley Institute pre-election housing primer – fall, 2008

 

Housing insecurity at record levels

*         One-in-four Canadian households pay 30% or more of their income on
housing – that’s three million households, or close to eight million women,
men and children. 

*        Housing is the biggest expense for low, moderate and middle-income
households; housing costs over the past decade grew faster than inflation
even though incomes were stagnant.

*        High housing costs are a key reason that 720,231 people across
Canada lined up at food banks in March of 2007.

*        In the early 1980s, more than 10 out of every 100 new homes in
Canada were truly affordable. By 2007, less than one-in-one-hundred new
homes were truly affordable.

*        Canada’s rental vacancy rate has been below 3% (the danger zone)
since the year 2000.

*        More than 300,000 Canadians experience homelessness annually; the
number of shelter beds in Canada jumped by 22% in one year to 26,872 in
2007.

 

Federal investments lowest in two decades

*         Federal housing investments of $2 billion in 2008 are at their
lowest level since 2002. On a per-capita basis, or as a percentage of
Canada’s Gross Domestic Product, federal housing investments in 2008 were at
their lowest level in two decades.

*        Federal per capita spending on housing of $61 is about half the
$115 average per capita among the ten provinces.

*        Compared to our partners in the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development, Canada has slipped from number two in 1980 to
number seven in 2003. 

*        In 2006, the United Nations called housing and homelessness in
Canada a “national emergency”, a finding confirmed by the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing after his official fact-finding
mission to Canada in 2007.  

 

Key federal investments set to expire

*         The federal homelessness program (Homelessness Partnering
Initiative – $135 million annually) expires in fiscal 2008. Hundreds of
programs and services in 61 communities will be forced to wind down in the
fall of 2008.

*        The federal housing repair program (Residential Rehabilitation
Assistance Program - $128 million annually) expires in fiscal 2008. Tens of
thousands of homes are assisted annually.

*        The $1.4 billion in affordable housing investments authorized by
Parliament in 2005 (Bill C-48) has been fully allocated and no new
affordable investments are scheduled.

*        From 2004 to 2012, net income for Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation (the federal housing agency) will rise by 49% to $1.4 billion
annually, but CMHC affordable housing spending will drop by 95% to a mere $8
million for the entire country in 2012. 

August 31, 2008

 

The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through
community-based research , community engagement , the informing of public
policy and social innovation.

Michael Shapcott, The Wellesley Institute // www.wellesleyinstitute.com

45 Charles Street East, Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 1S2 

 

* * *

 

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 - 416-21-7228

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


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