Posts Tagged ‘housing’
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Don’t let social housing crumble
… allowing the corporation’s units to keep deteriorating and be shut down would lead to higher health-care spending, rising crime and a host of other social costs… investing in repairs would create thousands of jobs, spur private investment, and generate billions of extra dollars in federal and provincial taxes. For both social and economic reasons, the provincial and federal governments must commit money for much-needed repairs before this crisis deepens.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Bad policy has played a role in Canada’s housing crisis
We ought to remove existing distortions such as favourable treatment of capital gains on real estate, provincial ownership subsidies, taxpayer-guaranteed mortgages, low residential property taxes and restrictive zoning. These policies encourage businesses and individuals to focus on real estate instead of other economic activity, exacerbate price volatility and fail to improve affordability. What better time to cut back these subsidies than when the market is soaring of its own accord and does not need artificial support?
Tags: economy, featured, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, tax
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A pre-pre-election budget to bolster Liberal fortunes
Free pharmaceuticals for young people (a blessing). Transit breaks for old people (a sop). Cheaper child care for young parents (long overdue). Free tuition for most college students (already announced but still worthy and worth repeating). Rent control for everyone (a reprise). Hefty discounts off everyone’s hydro bills (a perennial). And the first balanced budget after a decade of deficits (about time). Which clears the way for its more progressive measures, notably phased pharmacare.
Tags: budget, child care, housing, pharmaceutical
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Urgent action needed to halt shut-down of social-housing units
TCHC recently announced that it will be closing about 400 units next year because it doesn’t have enough money to repair them. That’s on top of 600 units already slated to be shut down this year…. the TCHC has a decade-long, $2.6-billion repair plan. But… TCHC says it can only access about $82 million [next year]. So once again the city is looking to the province and to Ottawa to do their part.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, participation, standard of living
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Liberals set homeless reduction targets ahead of provincial talks
The upcoming national housing strategy looks to cut by 50 per cent the number of “chronic” homeless — many of whom won’t go to shelters and may be harder to reach through traditional support systems — and “episodic” homeless, those who find themselves on the street repeatedly… The Liberals’ second budget in March showed that they wanted to get money directly to cities and service providers without having to deal with provinces.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, jurisdiction, participation, poverty
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
$5B housing pledge aims to help most vulnerable National Housing
… the focus would be on supporting the most vulnerable Canadians, which in addition to people struggling with mental health, addictions and domestic abuse also includes seniors, persons with disabilities and veterans… The national strategy… will also include $3 billion dedicated towards strengthening the relationship between provinces and territories, targeted funding for northern communities and Indigenous communities… and increased funding to prevent and reduce homelessness.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
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What if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?
… a wide body of sociological research shows how tied up work is with a sense of purpose and identity… Sociology also offers important lessons about poverty that economics alone does not… It’s relatively clear how a change in tax policy or an adjustment to interest rates can make the economy grow faster or slower. It’s less obvious what, if anything, government can do to change forces that are driven by the human psyche.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty
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Federal budget should close gap between rhetoric and resources
The government should… index the Canada Child Benefit to inflation, fix the EI system by creating fair and universal criteria for access, and pay for… affordable housing… [and] the $155 million in emergency relief it promised to First Nations children living on reserves… On the revenue side… it should continue to invest in tax compliance… [and] limit or scrap some of the many loopholes… that benefit the richest with no evident contribution to the public good.
Tags: budget, featured, housing, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The Liberals’ First Nations agenda encounters reality
This isn’t a “First Nations issue” except inasmuch as First Nations, as a population, are disadvantaged relative to other Canadians on social indicators that predict a vast catalogue of bad outcomes, from going to jail to homelessness to dying in a fire or getting murdered. Individual white Anglo-Saxon Canadians so disadvantaged run similar risks; individual aboriginal Canadians who are not so disadvantaged do not… truly transformational change on this front will only come with transformational change on the most basic fronts: education, employment, income. That’s a massive job.
Tags: featured, Health, housing, Indigenous, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
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