[homeles_ot-l] FW: recent Star editorial on Housing Strategy

[Lynne Browne]

FYI, from Yutaka Dirks, Co-chair of the Housing Network of Ontario

 

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

lbrowne at ysb.on.ca

147 Besserer St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Office 613-241-1573, ext. 205

(Temporary phone # until January 2011)

 www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> 

________________________________

From: Yutaka Dirks (ACTO) [mailto:dirksy at lao.on.ca] 
Sent: August 17, 2010 2:56 PM


________________________________

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/847342--the-real-housi
ng-issue

 


The real housing issue


Published On Sat Aug 14 2010 

When the watering hole dries up, the animals start to look at each other
differently. Rather similar is the situation today with Ontario's severe
affordable housing shortage.

On Monday, the John Howard Society of Toronto released a report arguing
that people leaving jail should automatically get access to an
affordable unit. Meanwhile, a growing number of municipal housing
providers are taking issue with a provincial requirement that forces
them to give first priority to domestic abuse victims. They argue that
supply is so scarce in some communities that this obligation renders the
waiting lists for everyone else near meaningless.

There are good arguments to be made - including lower rates of
recidivism - for ensuring that people leaving jail have an affordable
home to go to. So, too, is there a reason to give priority to women
living in abusive situations. But there are also compelling arguments
for finding homes for the homeless and others.

Indeed, the real problem that needs fixing is not who should be given
priority on waiting lists that routinely stretch to a decade or more.
Rather, it is the dreadful shortage of affordable housing for all the
Ontarians who need it.

There are more than 140,000 households, including 64,000 in Toronto,
waiting on a list for the chance to live in homes where they can afford
to pay the rent without skipping meals. Yet Queen's Park continues to
dither on an affordable housing plan, and Ottawa appears intent on
ignoring the problem entirely.

Provincial Housing Minister Jim Bradley recently delayed Ontario's
affordable housing strategy until the fall. The governing Liberals
promised the strategy in 2007. Since then, the problems have only
worsened: too many people are living on our streets or in homeless
shelters, suffering in dilapidated social housing complexes, or facing
eviction because they cannot afford the rent. 

Rather than debate priority access to a scare resource, Queen's Park and
Ottawa should be working on expanding the supply. 

 

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