Posts Tagged ‘housing’

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When it comes to election promises on housing, it’s the details that matter

Monday, August 30th, 2021

The pledges with a far greater chance of creating positive change are the ones that push municipalities to make better and faster planning decisions to increase housing supply, and target federal funding to create housing that’s affordable for lower earners — a niche the market will never fill… Ottawa usually works through the provinces, but it’s welcome to see federal leaders contemplating a more direct relationship with cities.

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Violent, militarized park encampment clearings won’t end homelessness in Toronto. Here’s a human rights approach

Monday, July 26th, 2021

While encampments are not ideal, and are not a permanent solution to the crisis of homelessness, they must not be criminalized or removed until the governments can provide reasonable alternatives. When the City of Toronto cites health and safety concerns as a reason for encampment removal, we must remember that this is the result of a societal failure to provide access to housing, let alone running water, bathrooms, and other basic necessities needed to ensure the right to life — and good health during a pandemic.

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The City must work with people living in encampments – not evict them

Tuesday, June 29th, 2021

Leaving people out of the decisions that affect their lives so profoundly is part of the wrong-headed decision-making process that led us to encampments in the first place. All paths forward on encampments must involve the meaningful participation of the people who are living in them.

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Life stabilization on a welfare income is impossible

Thursday, June 24th, 2021

… people’s lives cannot be stabilized without increasing social assistance rates. While they slowly starve, recipients will be required to “participate in prescribed employment and life stabilization assistance activities.”  But there is no clear plan to show how local service delivery agents will be able to co-ordinate life stabilization services that are notoriously in short supply, such as affordable housing, counselling and mental health services. And adding names to years-long waiting lists does not stabilize anything. In fact, it can have the opposite effect.

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Making UN Declaration law shows Canada’s commitment to Indigenous people

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021

Bill C-15 requires regular public reporting on progress and accountability measures developed in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. Importantly, the implementation of the declaration is in line with the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice.

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Toronto has the chance to create affordable housing, improving thousands of lives

Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Toronto’s housing market is in the brutal process of evicting low-income residents from our city. Without bold action from our governments things will continue to get worse… It would only require 5 to 10 per cent of the floor area of new highrise condo buildings and 3 to 5 per cent of new highrise rental buildings to be affordable to lower-income residents… Inclusive Zoning is only one of a number of policies that, if implemented in earnest, could make housing affordable for all Canadians.

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The Ford government has landed on the wrong fix for long-term care — again

Wednesday, April 28th, 2021

There are compelling reasons — beyond just reducing the dangers of spreading COVID — to limit the practice of long-term-care homes relying on a revolving-door workforce of part-time staff with few benefits and temporary agency workers with too little training… it will always be hard to attract workers, and harder still to keep them, until the government truly takes steps to improve working conditions.

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Assumption that institutions are best for elderly is false

Monday, April 12th, 2021

Today Ontario relies far too heavily on institutions and far too little on funding the support required to help elderly people age in place in their own homes or at least within small personalized homes, within their own community… We must challenge the negative assumptions about elderly people that are resulting in widespread institutionalization.

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Long-term-care houses of horror

Tuesday, March 9th, 2021

In Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, nearly 100% of senior respondents said “they will do everything they can to avoid moving into an LTC home.” … As of March 5, 2021, the NIA had tracked 14,596 LTC-home deaths across the country… 80% of deaths in Canada’s first wave occurred in LTC homes – “the worst record among wealthy nations for COVID-19-related deaths”

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The problem with profits: As Ontario’s long-term-care homes stagger under a COVID death toll of more than 3,000, some say it’s time to shut down for-profit homes for good

Monday, February 1st, 2021

The for-profit sector isn’t one sector. It never has been, really. Instead, it’s a wild mix of large chains, family-run companies and a new breed of equity-backed turnaround projects targeted for hefty returns. The risk now, as Ontario locks in new 30-year deals with private operators for new homes… Ontario could end up creating a system that’s even worse than the one we had before.

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