Posts Tagged ‘housing’

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Should we be taking money off Canadians’ paycheques for long-term care?

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

A public — not private — long-term-care insurance program could help pay for costly and unexpected expenses due to ill health or fragility that can be financially devastating… many will spend their later years living on a basic retirement income that likely won’t cover the thousands of dollars needed for health-related services, such as home care from private-pay personal support workers or nursing home “accommodation” co-payment fees. 

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Crime rates have more to do with social factors than number of police officers

Sunday, April 2nd, 2023

The only way to reduce random crime is to address the root causes of it, usually defined by social indicators: inequality, affordable housing, programs for young children and families. The provincial and federal governments are the only public institutions with the financial capability of addressing these issues, but as we have seen in the recently released budgets of both Queen’s Park and Ottawa, they seem uninterested in doing so.

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We have a homelessness emergency in every part of Ontario

Tuesday, March 14th, 2023

… the cause and effect are apparent… Ontario would need to increase its budget by $28 billion a year to spend what other provinces are spending. This extreme underspending will be a disaster for our communities… Ontario municipalities are unique in Canada in that they pay all or part of the costs of a range of health and social services such as public health and social housing.

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Affordability — not inflation — is the biggest crisis Canada’s economy faces today

Wednesday, March 1st, 2023

Five fiscal approaches… could lower costs, tackle long-term affordability and create more economic resilience… Reform Employment Insurance… Build more affordable rental housing… Fund school food programs… Focus on low-income households for energy-efficiency retrofits… [and] Avoid wasting money in health care… All governments need to prevent the galloping profitization of care…

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It’s time to close the breach at Roxham Road and enforce Canada’s borders

Tuesday, February 21st, 2023

It’s not mainly a question of money. The people working to receive and care for asylum seekers are limited. The number of new classes we can add to accommodate children, many of whom are distressed or traumatized, is limited, and that’s not to mention the shortage of teachers… housing… We have therefore asked the federal government to settle new asylum seekers in other provinces that are capable of supporting them with dignity.

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Why don’t we zone for rental apartments?

Sunday, January 8th, 2023

The speculation-driven condo business model encourages high prices for land, a dynamic that favours firms that want to get in and out quickly instead of operating a rental building for decades… a dynamic encouraged by the strange fact that apartment buildings are taxed higher than condos. Today, we build almost nothing but condos.

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Most older Canadians want to age at home. Why are we making it so hard for them?

Sunday, November 6th, 2022

We know that home and community-based care is less expensive and more adaptable. There is living proof to that in countries such as Denmark. And since nearly all of us older Canadians say it’s our preferred option, why can’t our governments invest in delivering this kind of care? … Let’s make that possible by using our resources properly and humanely.

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Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »


Four ways the fall economic statement could help prepare all of us for the coming recession

Thursday, November 3rd, 2022

People are anxious. The world is talking about recession… What can the government do about any of it? Help those struggling to choose between heating or eating, or even between food or shelter, by asking a bit more from those who saw a windfall in corporate profits and shareholder dividends.  Here are four ways to do just that…

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Why voting for municipal action on affordable housing is in everyone’s interest

Monday, October 24th, 2022

Many people with mental illness and addictions, older adults, people with disabilities and victims of violence can only maintain housing with help. Encampments are a symptom of inadequate supportive housing. And demonstration projects have shown that supportive housing for high-need clients is cost effective, reducing service use in other sectors like hospitals, emergency services, policing and the criminal justice system. But this type of supported housing is woefully undersupplied.

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What a new food-bank reports tells us about deep poverty

Thursday, October 20th, 2022

“We are failing people every step of the way”… Policy-makers have a selection of choices before them to slow or halt that cascade… but they boil down to this: either give people access to more money to buy food or help the charitable sector, like food banks, with more resources to bridge the gap. Right now, Yalnizyan adds, “the governments are doing none of the above.” 

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Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »


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