[homeles_ot-l] ATEH Press Conference, Ms Wright's presentation, Cand. Questions and Costs of Doing Nothing More documents

Mon Sep 13 12:40:14 EDT 2010

Hello everyone,

This morning's press conference was extremely well attended by the
media. You'll find attached the presentation made by ATEH's Chair Marion
Wright and the two documents released are attached documents released
this morning by the Alliance to End Homelessness. We hope that you will
distribute these widely.

1.      ATEH letter + questions to 2010 Mun Election Candidates.doc and
ATEH 

2.      Cost of Doing Nothing More - shelter bed use 2009-2020
final.doc)

The presentation is below and it will give you a quick idea of the
messaging we're using.

Thanks everyone for your help getting this out far and wide across
Ottawa.

Lynne

Media Conference:  Act now to avoid swelling cost of family & youth
homelessness and huge cost increases for emergency shelter, Homelessness
coalition urges municipal candidates

Monday, Sept. 13, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.,  Location:   Centre 454, 216
Murray Street, Ottawa ON K1N 5N1

Marion Wright's Presentation at ATEH's 1st Municipal Election Press
Conference, Sept. 13, 2010

My name is Marion Wright and I'm Chair of The Alliance to End
Homelessness, here today on behalf of our 73 member agencies. Ottawa's
affordable housing crisis is one of the top issues in this election
because it's an essential element of a strong city's infrastructure. 

It's time for candidates start talking about it. We are asking them to
let voters know what they are prepared to do if elected.

I'd like to welcome you to Centre 454 and to thank everyone who is here
for making space for us to speak with media this morning. On average,
300 different people visit this Centre each day. It is a safe haven for
people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, one of eight
City-funded Day Programs in Ottawa that provide hospitality,
counselling, crisis intervention, practical supports and social
recreational activities.

How do we know our city has to do more on housing? 7,445 individuals
stayed in an emergency shelter, 1,317 of them children, and there are
10,000 households on the social housing waiting list.

The next Council will need to act fast to avoid the swelling cost of
family and youth homelessness and huge cost increases for emergency
shelter. 

That is why we're releasing today our cost projections report on shelter
use - "The Cost of Doing Nothing More Than Current Efforts to End
Homelessness" because affordable housing in Ottawa is a top election
issue.  This new report projects shelter costs for 2011 to 2020.

We're also sharing with you our questions for Mayoral and Council
candidates, especially the incumbents, because it's time to ramp up the
affordable housing issue. 

There are several points we want to emphasize for voters and candidates:

1.      Our City's cost to run emergency shelters is projected to double
by 2020; a budgeting pressure that needs quick action to create new
affordable housing for people with low incomes. 

2.      The most shocking news about the cost projections is they that
show a trend where about 
60% of the shelter beds costs in 2020 will be for homeless parents and
children and for youth.  If the 2004 to 2009 trends continue that will
be a huge increase from around 40% in 2009. I'll point out too that
overflow services for homeless families often require using motels and
those additional costs are not reflected here.

3.      The City pays 20% and the province covers 80% of shelter costs.
The city's 20% goes from $3.6 M in 2009 to $7.5 M in 2020. Provincial
costs from $ 14.4 Million to $31 Million over the same period.

*        These costs are extrapolated from 2004-2009 shelter data in the
Alliance to End Homelessness' Report Cards on Ending Homelessness in
Ottawa and show that the City's total cost for the 2011 to 2020 period
could reach
 $57 Million according to our conservative cost estimate.

4.      In addition to governmental shelter costs, we all know there are
personal costs when parents and children, our youth and adults have no
home. Some of these involve health issues others involve lost employment
and education opportunities. Safe and stable housing is fundamental to
an individual's success economically, mentally, and physically. 

*        It's important to remember that this cost data looks just at
government expenditures. A significant portion of shelter costs, ranging
from 20-60% are borne by community agencies providing emergency shelter.
Voters from right across the city are the donors and volunteers who help
to bring in that money.

5.      Today we begin asking Mayoral and Councillor Candidates if they
intend to act to increase affordable housing by 1,000 units each year
and to invest more municipal resources. 

*        In the 2010 capital budget, only $13 thousand dollars were set
aside for social housing. Not $13 million, $13 thousand!

6.      That's an insignificant amount of capital spending on housing
infrastructure. 

*        The last Council  budget ignored the reality that the average
rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is now $1,062 and that there are 37
thousand RENTER households, our neighbours in this city, who are living
on less than $25, 000 a year. 

*        The Mayor and Councillors have a responsibility to everyone in
this city to make sure that the housing infrastructure has a range of
housing so all of us have a place to live.

7.      Today, we are providing Candidates with one quick way the
municipal budget can help. We want them to throw their support behind
the "Housing Answer Campaign" which asks them to commit at least 15
million of the upload dollars each year starting in 2011 for appropriate
affordable housing, supportive housing and combating homelessness. 

*        This is not new money; it is from money freed up in the city as
the Province uploads the cost of several social service programs. By
2018 a total of about $80 million will be freed up each year in the
City. $20 Million each year has already been freed up. In 2010 that
jumps to $43 Million. It's time to jump start capital spending on
affordable housing.

The math is straightforward - the longer people in our City have to stay
in shelters the higher those costs. Although the number of people using
emergency shelters from 2004-2009 is around 7500, the average stay
increased almost 5% annually over the past six years. 

If we keep spending so little on affordable housing, the 2004-2009 trend
is to longer and longer stays will continue, more and more Ottawa
families and youth with low incomes will pay the price for Council's
lack of foresight on housing infrastructure.  

The Alliance to End Homelessness has set 10-year targets for our City
that can be met by adding 1,000 units of affordable housing each of 10
years. By 2020 voters in Ottawa could have a community where no more
than 2,000 families and individuals have to use the shelter system each
year because of personal emergencies such as fires? Using 2009 dollars
that means the total provincial and municipal costs could drop to around
$3 million, so about 600,000 for Ottawa. People would be in a shelter
for an average of 30 days to find a safe, affordable home, and the
social housing waiting list would be down to 4,000 households, a huge
drop from the current 10,000 households.

This is the election to start making that happen!

We want to remind voters and candidates that the City has an affordable
housing strategy, a poverty reduction plan and an action plan on
homelessness. These plans will never be successful unless the next
Council commits significant resources. 

Later today our "What Can City Council Do?" Questionnaire will be
emailed to all candidates with a deadline of October 1st, in next couple
weeks after that we'll invite you to a shelter where we'll release what
we've learned about their commitment to affordable housing. 

We believe that the economic cost of doing nothing is greater than
taking action. All of us in our daily lives know someone who is at risk
of becoming homeless. A family's or individual's economic and social
success depends first on housing.

Elections do matter. Affordable housing is a defining election issue and
it's time for candidates to show leadership and vision on it and start
telling voters what they will do. 

More information at:

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

lbrowne at ysb.on.ca <mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca> 

Cell: 613-513-6647, Office: 613-241-1573, ext. 205 

Mail to: 147 Besserer St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

lbrowne at ysb.on.ca <mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca> 

Office: 613-241-1573, ext. 205 --- (Temp. # till Jan. 2011)

Mail to: 147 Besserer St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

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

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