Ending Poverty in Welland?

This from the Welland Tribune

The effort to end poverty in the community is moving in a new direction.
As envisioned by its board, the Strategy fo End Poverty Program (STEP-Niagara), will provide a healing resource to those trapped in the revolving door of short-term hospital treatment, psychiatric care, the courts and for some, incarceration in jails or prisons.

"Public Forum: Saturday, Oct. 18 at Notre Dame.
Purpose: To tell the community about the idea behind the Strategy to End Poverty and, to receive input from the community about it and to ask people to join in.
Speakers: Dr. John Rook, chair, Canada’s National Council of Welfare and Brian Hutchings, Niagara’s commissioner of community and social services.
Particulars: Registration at 5 p.m., dinner at 5:30 p.m., forum at 6: 30 p.m.
Need to Know: To RSVP attendance, call Leanna Villella Shuster, 905-735-2050 by Oct. 10."

This sounds ambitious and certainly worth pursuing. We have agreed to work with this group as consultants to help them achieve their goals. We know de-institutionalization did not work. It seemed like the right idea, but the community supports were not put in place to make it work. This is a step in the right direction

See the full article....

Housing still not a priority

This is not going away. Canada continues to accept homelessness and the lack of affordable housing as normal. This from Citizens for Public Justice:

"In 2006, the United Nations called the issue of housing and homelessness in Canada a “national emergency”. In Canada, housing is the responsibility of all levels of government. With an estimated four million Canadians in need of affordable housing, it would be expected that our governments would be investing heavily in programs aimed at combating homelessness and housing insecurity. Instead, housing programs have been downloaded by the federal government over the last two decades to the provincial
and municipal levels, leading to enormous reductions in program spending on housing by federal and provincial governments."

See the full article.....

Habitat Pattern Book

Habitat for Humanity, along with The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America have developed a "Pattern Book" to assist Habitat Affiliates in designing and placing the new homes they create. From the Institute's web site:

More than building new affordable houses, Habitat for Humanity
International's mission is to help people build new lives. The strength of our democracy is based on individual economic achievement and social mobility. Traditional neighborhoods provided a range of types and cost of housing, all within a walking distance of daily services, schools and churches. This mix provided role models for success that served to inspire young people. It ensured the long term stability of the community by providing life-long housing options for people: small inexpensive housing for those beginning their careers, larger family houses when children come along, smaller urban housing for empty nesters, and assisted living for the elderly. Studies have demonstrated that over time the social capital created in such neighborhoods is a key in community stability and the health of its residents. Each house built has two roles: one to provide
adequate shelter and the other to become part of a neighborhood. The architectural character of the exterior of the house is the most critical part of its design in fulfilling its responsibility to the community.

It is clear that no single solution to affordable housing works everywhere. At the same time developing without sensitivity to the surrounding vernacular is disrespectful and makes for a bad start for the new neighbours.

I'm pleased to see this pattern book but continue to believe that single detached homes lack the density that is needed in the face of increased energy costs. Further single detached homes represent a higher costs that could be better used to create more housing. Townhomes and garden apartments seem better suited designs.

Poverty, Housing, and Health

Tonight on PBS was the first of three reports collectively entitled "Unnatural Causes". It's about why some of us get sicker more often and die sooner and what causes us to fall ill in the first place. The first report, called "In Sickness and in Wealth" looked at the correlation between the growing gap between the rich and the poor. It says a lot about why affordable housing, among other indicators of an equitable society, is so important for one's physical health. (Video clip)

In some cities, just a few miles apart, the average life span is more than 10 years longer for those who are relatively more wealthy. The stereotype of the poor not being smart enough to take care of themselves and thus being more sick is far from the truth. In fact it has everything to do with sense of powerlessness of being trapped in poverty. Those who have options have considerably less stress in their lives.

The unending stress of childhood poverty can have lifelong health consequences. Jack Shonkoff of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child:

"Just the burden of day after day not knowing whether there's going to be food on the table or not knowing whether you're going to have a roof over your head, is actually toxic to the brain. So we begin to see in children who experience toxic stress long-term impacts of what's basically been chemically damaging to their brains. The concept here is the pile-up of risk, the cumulative burden of having things that are increasing your chances of having problems, as opposed to the cumulative protection of having things in your life that increase the likelihood that you can have better outcomes.

Economic security may offer some of those cumulative health benefits. In another cold virus study, home ownership was considered as a factor. People were asked if their parents own their own home. It turned out that a child whose parent did not own their family home is much more likely to succumb to a cold virus as an adult. In fact, the more years their parents owned a home, the less likely they'd be to get a cold when we expose them to a virus. A brain that's been subjected to more disruption, an immune system that's been more threatened.

As the gap grows between the poor and the wealthy it may be that this generation will be the first in a century to see a decline in life expectancy. The program makes the argument that advances in medicine, while helpful, did not make as much difference in life expectancy as did the broad advances in general income and relative freedom from worry about merely sustaining one's life.

Not only is affordable housing the right thing to ensure, it also reduces the health care costs we all bear. The total cost of poverty, includes lack of opportunity, lack of contribution, direct welfare costs, families broken by the stress, crime and stress on the justice system, and much more that falls through the cracks of ineffectual charity. Social justice, economic equity are really health issues and ensuring a fair and equitable society is then also a matter of self interest.

Another Homeless Study - Big Deal...

In a press release today the Feds and the Province of Ontario announced a "federal-provincial Memorandum of Understanding on homelessness."

This Memorandum of Understanding on homelessness creates a framework for the governments of Canada and Ontario to collaborate on research and data collection, as well as to explore options for horizontal pilot projects to better combat homelessness in Ontario. Through this information-sharing initiative, the governments will be able to deepen their knowledge and understanding of homelessness and its causes, in order to help Ontario communities develop better strategies to address the needs of the homeless and those at risk of homelessness. This also means a more efficient use of public funds to help those who are in need.

Unbelievable! Yet another half-hearted pilot project/study/data collecting/feel good announcement that sounds like they are doing something. Aaaaaaaarrrrgh! Cynicism is a poor response, but it's all I have at this announcement.

Homeless people do not have homes and many have mental illnesses. We know the research, we've seen too many pilot projects, we have a deep knowledge, and we have better strategies. How about some serious funding!

Poverty and Housing in Niagara

"Maryellen MacLellan, manager of community programs with Niagara Regional Housing, said there are more than 4,300 households on the Region's affordable housing waiting list.
That adds up to more than 8,000 people. Of those, about 256 households are classified as homeless. Adding to that, just 165 new units are expected to be built over the next two years.
'The need for affordable housing has been quite steady for the last several years,' she said. 'And it still remains quite high.'"St. Catharines Standard - Ontario, CA

After 25 years of being a development consultant, the need remains, as much if not more. No new fully private rentals are being built - only those with capital assistance from government. In the past two years less than 220 new units have been created or are in progress. None were created in the previous 10 years in all of Niagara. If you are single, you can expect to wait 7.5 years in Welland for an apartment.
A good friend argues with me on this saying that rent controls should be eliminated and the problem will resolve itself. The real problem is the relative inequity in the distribution of income. Socialist? No, just trying to remember that everyone should be in the boat.

Affordable Housing Failure

A report by Michael Shapcott of Toronto's Wellesley Institute has found that Ontario has a $1 billion spending shortfall between what was promised by Federal and Ontario governments in 2001 to the present for affordable housing. However, instead of adding $358 million in new funding, instead $732 million has been cut in the past six years. Ontario is the only province that hasn't increased its housing spending.

"They make commitments but when it comes time to add up what's actually done, you will find a lot of excuses and a lot of stalling," Shapcott said in an interview (Toronto Star, Feb. 5, 2008). "We have this history of federal-provincial deals signed but when you look at the dollars, you find they have not done what they intended to do."

With no new money in the Federal budget the future looks even more grim for new affordable housing units.