Posts Tagged ‘homelessness’
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Business on board for homeless plan
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
October 8, 2010
The social safety net that once kept the bottom from falling out from under the most poor and vulnerable Canadians is shredding. Homelessness is one of the most visible ways we see this. Solutions cost money and housing is particularly expensive -as anyone who makes a capital investment in property knows all too well. But homelessness is even more expensive. Over the past two decades, Canadians have been living and paying for the ever increasing cost of our collective failure to keep up the public investment in affordable housing.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, homelessness, housing, ideology
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
MPs need to back housing bill
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Sep 22 2010
Homelessness and lack of housing security hurt us all as Canadians. Safe and adequate housing is linked to better health, community stability, and reduced crime, whereas lack of affordable housing exacerbates poverty, isolation and ill-health, and denies people the stability they need to be able to contribute to society. Further, according to recent studies, homelessness costs Canadian taxpayers an estimated $6 billion per year for emergency shelters, social services, criminal justice and other costs.
Tags: homelessness, housing, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
The invention of homelessness
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Sep 18 2010
Over the past two decades, we relied on an increasingly deregulated society in which the “genius of market forces” would meet our needs, in which tax cuts, made possible by cuts to programs that largely benefited poor and average-income people, were supposed to “trickle down” to benefit those in need. The competitive economy required, we were told, wage suppression and part-time jobs with no benefits. By the early 1980s, countries like Canada needed a new term for a new social problem. The word “homelessness” filled the gap… It is a catch-all term for a host of serious social and economic policy failures.
Tags: featured, homelessness, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion History | 1 Comment »
Next step is funding for mental health
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Aug 29 2010
While Ontario’s Liberal government increased health funding by $14.5 billion since coming to office, it only added $220 million to mental health spending during the same period even though mental health and addictions problems affect 20 per cent of the population… Today in Toronto there are 2,000 people on the wait list for supportive housing. Without creating additional service capacity for supportive housing, this will not change. Other jurisdictions have had to increase the mental health share of health spending to get change and improve services.
Tags: Health, homelessness, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Lauded economist slams census decision
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Aug. 07, 2010
“I think it’s ridiculous the government would intervene and tell Statistics Canada how to collect its information,” Dr. Sylvia Ostry told the Couchiching Conference on public affairs… Canadian economists have been virtually unanimous in arguing that making the long form voluntary will undermine the reliability of the data used for research and planning by public institutions such as hospitals, governments, businesses and scholars…
Tags: homelessness, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Jet fighters wrong priority
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
July 20, 2010
We are appalled at the Harper government’s decision to spend billions of dollars on military jets… (it) calls to all decent Canadians to speak up for a change in priorities in these economic hard times. Women, children, and senior (seasoned) citizens are increasingly vulnerable as a result of cuts to social programs. The homeless and people with mental-health challenges are at risk for their very lives because of the do-nothing or do-too-little measures taken on their behalf.
Tags: budget, homelessness, mental Health, poverty, women
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
The Right to Housing: The Red Tent Campaign and Bill C-304
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
July 14, 2010
Inspired by a similar and successful effort in France, and initiated by the innovative, Vancouver-based Pivot Legal Society and allied organizations, the Red Tent Campaign uses visually striking tents to draw public attention to homelessness and the need for a pan-Canadian housing strategy – rooted in Canada’s legal obligation under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to honor the right to housing.
Tags: homelessness, housing, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Housing or just castles in the air?
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Jul 02 2010
For most of us, Canada is good country to call home. But for approximately 300,000 people, it is a country where they have no home. Some live in homeless shelters. Some spend their nights in parks, ravines, back alleys or on the streets. Some couch surf until their friends’ and relatives’ patience runs out. Governments have known about this problem for two decades. They’ve conducted studies, made promises, set targets — and missed most of them.
Tags: homelessness, housing, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Calgary homeless in from cold
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Jun 22 2010
One of the foundation’s top priorities was to provide homes for parents and their children who find themselves on the street or being shuffled from shelter to shelter at night. About 220 families were rehoused in two years against a target of 200. Plans are also underway to provide housing for people discharged from hospitals and detox facilities who have no place to go, as well as people released from jails and juvenile detention centres.
Tags: homelessness, housing, poverty
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
A tale of two reports [on housing]
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
April 13, 2010
According to the analysis, “overall Canadians have a less than 1 in 10 chance of experiencing affordability challenges for long periods,” and that “the good news is that unaffordability is a short-term phenomenon for many Canadians.” The report says that “on one level the solutions to unaffordability are simple: raise incomes or reduce shelter costs.” The point about raising incomes is a good one.
Tags: homelessness, housing
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
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