Local

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Inaction on housing 'disgraceful'

Protests demand feds deal with homeless

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 10/20/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

About 150 Winnipeg housing advocates protested at the Manitoba legislature Tuesday.

CANADA needs a plan to deal with a housing shortage that's reached crisis proportions, according to a coalition dedicated to drawing attention to the cause.

On Tuesday, at demonstrations in cities across the country, including Winnipeg, housing advocates demanded that federal politicians support a private member's bill that would require Ottawa to develop a strategy to deal with the estimated 150,000 to 300,000 homeless people in Canada.

Some facts:

Nearly one in seven users of emergency shelters in Canada are children. In June, a short-term 16-bed emergency shelter for youths in Winnipeg's north end had 39 different clients whose average age was 15.1 years old. They stayed an average 10.5 days.

Nearly one-quarter of all new Canadians are paying more than half their family income in rent.

In Winnipeg, an estimated 350 people are living on the street, while 1,900 others are in temporary shelters and some 7,600 are considered "hidden homeless," living with relatives or "couch surfing."

A homeless person dies every 12 days in British Columbia. Housing advocates say there are clear links between poor housing and increased morbidity and premature death.

Aboriginal Canadians continue to be vastly overrepresented in homeless counts across the country.

-- SOURCES: Right to Housing Coalition, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg

Clark Brownlee, co-ordinator of Winnipeg's Right to Housing coalition, told a rally attended by about 150 people on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building that Canada is the only G-8 country without a national housing plan. "That is a disgraceful thing and it's a sad thing," he said.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, he said, Canada had a housing strategy that was envied around the world, and Ottawa created 20,000 social housing units each year until cutbacks began in 1984. By 1993, all federal spending on the construction of new social housing was terminated.

At the same time, he said, changes to Canadian tax policy have had a drastic negative effect on the construction of rental units. In the early 1970s, there was an average of 60,000 new apartment units started each year in Canada. By the late 1990s that number had dropped to about 7,500 units.

A Vancouver NDP MP, Libby Davies, has drafted a private member's bill (Bill C-304) requiring Ottawa to consult with the provinces, municipalities and aboriginal communities and others to re-establish a national housing strategy to deal with a shortage of rental and social housing units. MPs will vote on it today.

Activists say that without a national housing strategy, lower levels of government will not have the resources they need to address the growing need for safe, affordable housing in their communities.

"It's long overdue," said Brownlee. "The policies that we have and haven't got in the country are creating homelessness."

Yohannes Yemane, an Eritrean who fled from Sudan to Manitoba three years ago, said he's struggling to find accommodations for himself, his wife and two young children.

Until now, the family has been living in temporary, subsidized housing. But that will soon run out.

"I have to move by next month," said Yemane, who finished two years of studies this past summer and does not yet have a job. His wife is now enrolled full-time in school. "I have been searching for one year now (for a permanent place to live)."

The Selinger government has promised to build 300 new social housing units per year for the next five years. But housing activists say that's just a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed.

They say it's much less expensive to ensure that everyone has a home than to deal with the costs of homelessness. They say it costs $48,000 a year to leave someone on the street compared with $28,000 a year to house them.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 20, 2010 A6

(You must be logged in to post your reaction)

Your reaction?

More Local

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.