{"id":5634,"date":"2023-03-21T09:44:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T13:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/?p=5634"},"modified":"2023-08-01T14:34:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T18:34:51","slug":"road-home-housing-benefit-could-slow-wave-of-new-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/road-home-housing-benefit-could-slow-wave-of-new-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"ROAD HOME: Housing benefit could slow wave of new homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted: March 21st, 2023. By: Michael Braithwaite, newmarkettoday.ca, Original Article.<\/a><\/p>\n

In his new column, Blue Door CEO says there are solutions to our homelessness and housing crisis, which is the result of bad government policy choices<\/strong><\/div>\n
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In the past few months, you\u2019ve likely heard and read about the More Homes Built Faster Act,\u00a0the\u00a0Ontario government\u2019s Bill 23 that proposes to build\u00a0150,000 homes each year for the next 10 years to make\u00a0up for the shortage of housing.<\/p>\n

What you may not realize is the act doesn\u2019t mention anything about increasing truly affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Making it worse, Bill 23 introduced changes to municipalities\u2019 development fees, which limits the amount of social housing that can be built.<\/p>\n

Driven by the need for housing supply, Bill 23 will provide housing, but only for those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Thus, by building housing without consideration for affordable housing, the housing crisis will only get\u00a0worse. Youth, seniors\u00a0and whole families will be pushed into poverty and homelessness.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, costs for housing and food have skyrocketed, with the average one-bedroom\u00a0apartment costing more than\u00a0$2,000 a month.<\/p>\n

Just to get by people are relying on food banks. In the 2022 Who\u2019s Hungry Report\u00a0from the Daily Bread\u00a0 Food Bank, after paying for rent and utilities, food bank users have only $8 a day left over.<\/p>\n

Imagine trying to survive and support your family with only $8 a day.<\/p>\n

Unable to keep up, according to York Region\u2019s last Point-in-Time count in 2021, 329 people were experiencing homelessness on any given night. A number that has increased due to inflation and the\u00a0cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n

According to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH), 85 per cent\u00a0of people experiencing\u00a0homelessness simply cannot afford proper housing.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing is urgently needed.<\/p>\n

But building the amount of affordable housing needed to slow or stop the housing crisis will take years,\u00a0which is something our most vulnerable don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

To prevent unnecessary suffering today and build a better future, vulnerable people need to be\u00a0provided with enough financial assistance to afford housing, food, and still be able to survive.<\/p>\n

Right now, 15 per cent\u00a0of Ontario residents accessing Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Payments receive just more than\u00a0$700 or $1,200 a month.<\/p>\n

But three years ago, during the beginning of the pandemic, people unable to work were given $2,000 a\u00a0month in income support.<\/p>\n

Why do we keep turning a blind eye to the fact that 15 per cent\u00a0of our province\u2019s population is receiving\u00a0nowhere close to that amount?<\/p>\n

Where is the humanity in that?<\/p>\n

Together, we need to pressure our provincial government to reform its policies and increase the social\u00a0assistance amounts individuals and families receive.<\/p>\n

On the federal level, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness is proposing a Homelessness\u00a0 Prevention and Housing Benefit that would provide immediate rental relief to up to 385,000 households\u00a0at imminent risk of homelessness, helping more than\u00a050,000 people escape homelessness. The benefit would\u00a0 reduce pressure on Canada\u2019s overwhelmed homelessness systems while ultimately saving the government (and taxpayers) money by reducing demand on public systems like health care.<\/p>\n

Tim Richter, president and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, explains, \u201cCanadians are\u00a0seeing increasing homelessness in their towns and cities across the country. This is a preventable\u00a0 disaster. A rapidly deployed, targeted housing benefit like the one we are proposing, can stop or at least\u00a0slow this wave of new homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can you be part of the solution?<\/p>\n

The homelessness and housing crisis is a result of bad policy choices.<\/p>\n

Our governments need to make better choices.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0caeh.ca<\/a>\u00a0and write to your local MP, MPP\u00a0and local newspaper. Let them know you support\u00a0income assistance reform, the need for deeply affordable housing, and CAEH\u2019s Homelessness Prevention\u00a0and Housing Benefit.<\/p>\n

Together, we can and will prevent and end homelessness.<\/p>\n

Michael Braithwaite is the CEO of Blue Door, host of the housing and homelessness podcast \u201cOn The Way Home\u201d, board chair of the youth homelessness-focused organization A Way Home Canada, and a tireless advocate for people experiencing homelessness.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted: March 21st, 2023. By: Michael Braithwaite, newmarkettoday.ca, Original Article. In his new column, Blue Door CEO says there are solutions to our homelessness and housing crisis, which is the result of bad government policy choices In the past few months, you\u2019ve likely heard and read about the More Homes Built Faster Act,\u00a0the\u00a0Ontario government\u2019s Bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t