[homeles_ot-l] The Housing Answer makes news!

[Ray Sullivan]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/funds+from+provincial+savings+support+
social+housing+advocacy+group/3570645/story.html 

Use funds from provincial savings to support social housing, advocacy
group suggests

 

 

By Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa CitizenSeptember 23, 2010

 

 

OTTAWA - Housing advocates say the city can end its housing "crisis"
without the need for new taxes or spending increases. 

Money the city saves from the provincial government's promise to take
on, or "upload," costs associated with social services such as Ontario
Works, the Ontario Drug Benefit Program and Ontario Disability Support
Program should be invested in housing, they said at a news conference
overlooking a new supportive-housing facility for 42 women being built
near Chinatown. 

Calling the proposal "the housing answer," Ishbel Solvason, chairwoman
of the Ottawa Social Housing Network - which comprises more than 50
local housing providers, advocacy groups and other housing-related
organizations - said the city should establish an annual fund of at
least $15 million for housing, and called on mayoral and council
candidates to back the campaign.

"The new city council has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end the
housing crisis in Ottawa," she said, adding that by 2018, an additional
$80 million will be freed up for city coffers.

Solvason said money could go toward building new affordable and
supportive housing, repairing existing housing and providing support for
tenants.

"This money already sits within the social service envelope. The housing
answer asks that the money stay in that envelope."

The city has approved an affordable-housing strategy, an action plan to
end homelessness and a poverty-reduction strategy, and "has committed
itself to reducing poverty and stimulating the economy," Solvason said.

"We want you to know, City of Ottawa mayor and councillors, that the
housing answer does all this at the same time." 

Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes attended the press conference, and said
money saved from the provincial upload went into the city's general
account this year, but should be set aside for social services. Holmes
said she'll push for that to happen in the 2011 budget if she's
re-elected.

Holmes said affordable housing is "the least-expensive solution" to
several problems "in the long term." 

The Ottawa Social Housing Network says a fund of $15 million could
attract federal and provincial support and private financing that would
allow the city to build up to 1,000 new affordable- and
supportive-housing units each year.

The Alliance to End Homelessness, which works closely with the Ottawa
Social Housing Network, says the annual cost to the city of running its
emergency shelters will more than double in a decade, rising from $3.6
million in 2009 to $7.5 million in 2020, unless more is done to increase
affordable housing.

(c) Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

 

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/09/23/15456541.html 

Rallying cry for more housing money 

By JUSTIN SADLER, Ottawa Sun 

Last Updated: September 23, 2010 6:11pm

 Click here to watch the video
<http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/09/23/15456541.html#/news/ott
awa/2010/09/23/pf-15458356.html#/news/ottawa/2010/09/23/pf-15458356.html
> 

 

In what can only be described as a rallying cry for more support,
affordable housing advocates from across Ottawa came together Thursday
to call on municipal council and mayoral candidates to commit to funding
more social housing.

The numbers are pretty simple: $15 million annually for the next 10
years to help build 10,000 affordable housing units. That will help get
the 10,000 families on the social housing waiting list into homes.

"The new city council has a once in a lifetime opportunity to end the
housing crisis in Ottawa ... without raising taxes or increasing the
city budget," said Ishbel Solvason-Wiebe, chair of the city's social
housing network. 

"We can end homelessness. We can build more affordable and supportive
housing." 

The group is calling for the money being freed up in the city's coffers
as the province uploads costs for programs such as the Ontario Drug
Benefits Program and the Ontario Disability Support Program over the
next eight years. According to a city memo, a total of $78 million in
costs will be uploaded between 2008 and 2018.

Sue Garvey, the executive director of Cornerstone Women's Housing, said
the funds are desperately needed for projects like the building the
organization is building on Booth St., which will provide affordable
housing for 42 women, with 20 units dedicated to seniors.

"If we have the right supports for people, we will then be able to house
the people with the greatest need," she said. "That is so crucial." 

When asked whether they would commit to the funding request, mayoral
candidate Jim Watson's spokesman he will be releasing his platform on
housing and homelessness shortly.

Calls to Larry O'Brien's campaign were not returned Thursday.

justin.sadler at sunmedia.ca

 

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