[homeles_ot-l] FW: HNO update: 2010 Budget Fails to Move Forward on Affordable Housing

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . . Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Cell 613-513-6647

Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205

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

  _____  

From: Yutaka Dirks (ACTO) [mailto:dirksy at lao.on.ca] 
Sent: March 26, 2010 4:42 PM
To: Yutaka Dirks (ACTO)
Subject: HNO update: 2010 Budget Fails to Move Forward on Affordable Housing

 

As the long-term affordable housing strategy proposal is being developed and
being brought forward to Cabinet for approval in April the Housing Network
of Ontario encourages you to contact your MPP and engage your community in
advocating for an Ontario where everyone can live poverty-free and with
dignity in housing that is adequate, equitably accessible and affordable.
It's clear from yesterday's budget that together we must strengthen our
advocacy for an end to housing-related poverty.  

 

No news is not good news for Ontarians looking to Budget for housing help 

TORONTO, March 26, 2010 

New assistance for Northern Ontarians facing high heating costs is cold
comfort for thousands of people facing housing-related poverty as the 2010
Ontario Budget failed to deliver new affordable housing investments, says
the Housing Network of Ontario (HNO).

"We are very disappointed that the government missed an opportunity to help
lift people out of poverty and provide short-term economic stimulus and
long-term jobs by making a solid investment in affordable housing," said
Yutaka Dirks of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario and Co-chair of HNO.
"We fear that the failure to provide a down-payment on the upcoming
long-term affordable housing strategy signals a lack of commitment to the
kind of bold action that Ontarians are expecting in the housing strategy." 

As noted in the December 2009 Provincial Auditor report, one-in-five Ontario
tenant households spend over 50% of their income on rent and over 137,000
households are now on a waiting list for subsidized housing.  

The Budget outlined a proposed Northern Ontario Energy Credit that would
provide up to $130 annually to single people and $200 to families to help
with high energy costs.  The provincial government has also decided to
replace the Special Diet program which provides funding for people on social
assistance with additional dietary costs. 

"Low-income Ontarians living in the North will see some relief from high
energy costs - which can push households into homelessness - but this budget
will do little else to address housing insecurity and may even exacerbate
poverty for thousands of people," says Dirks. "By cutting the Special Diet
program the government may force tens of thousands of Ontarians to choose
between paying the rent and keeping healthy food on the kitchen table."

The Housing Network of Ontario and housing advocates called for budget
measures to include increased funding for new affordable housing units,
housing allowances to help tenants with unaffordable rents, and culturally
appropriate supportive housing.  Next month the HNO will release a list of
policy actions it hopes to see in the long-term affordable housing strategy.
To date, over 450 organizations and individuals have endorsed the HNO
Declaration.

Contact:            

                           Yutaka Dirks, 416-597-5855 x.5243 

                           dirksy at lao.on.ca

 

For more information about the HNO and the Declaration:
www.stableandaffordable.com <http://www.stableandaffordable.com/> . 

 

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