Homelessness and Housing

Les sans-abri et le logement

Updated May 15, 2013
Page révisée le 15 mai 2013

[ Go to Canadian Social Research Links Home Page ]

Jump directly to links further down on this page:

Canadian Government Links
* Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
* Homelessness Partnering Strategy
* Links to Provincial and Territorial Affordable Housing Websites, Agreements and Public Reporting

Statistics Canada : Families, households and housing statistics
Non-Government Links
* Wellesley Institute links (includes Ontario and national housing content)
Ontario social housing links
Manitoba social housing links
British Columbia social housing links + misc. links

U.S. and international housing links
*** Million-Dollar Murray
International homelessness/housing links
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United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing - October 2007 / February 2009

Video:

The Way Home : Youth Homelessness in Canada
(duration 3:54)

The links below are, for the most part, in reverse chronological order.

From
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada:

The National Shelter Study 2005-2009
HTML : http://www.homelesshub.ca/Library/The-National-Shelter-Study-2005-2009-55787.aspx
PDF (2MB, 6 pages): http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/communities/homelessness/reports/shelter_study.pdf
Posted April 2013
The National Shelter Study is the first national analysis using consistent shelter data collected over an extended period of time to establish a baseline count and description of the characteristics of the homeless population in Canada. This study uses information gathered from emergency homeless shelters using the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) and emergency homeless shelters in the City of Toronto.

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Version française :
Étude nationale sur les refuges 2005-2009
HTML : http://www.rhdcc.gc.ca/fra/communautes/sans_abri/rapports/etude_refuges.shtml
PDF (3.1MB, 6 pages) : http://www.rhdcc.gc.ca/fra/communautes/sans_abri/rapports/etude_refuges.pdf
------------------------------

Table of Contents:
* About HIFIS
* Methods
* A National Portrait of Homelessness
* Quick facts
* Demographic Trends
* Quick facts
* Conclusion

NOTE:
At the time of the study, there were nearly 400 emergency shelters with over 15,400 beds across Canada.
---

Related links:

National Homelessness Information System (NHIS)
http://hifis.hrsdc.gc.ca/index-eng.shtml
The National Homelessness Information System (NHIS) is a federal data development initiative designed to collect and analyze baseline data on the use of shelters in Canada. NHIS supports the implementation and deployment of the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) software, HIFIS training at the community level, and projects related to community shelter data coordination.
---
More about HIFIS:
http://hifis.hrsdc.gc.ca/depliant-brochure/index-eng.shtml

Source:
Homelessness Strategy
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/communities/homelessness/index.shtml
The Homelessness Strategy is part of
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada:
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/home.shtml

From
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada:

At Home Program ended March 31, 2012

The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s $110-million At Home, a five-year study on housing for hard-core itinerants with drug addictions, chronic diseases and mental illness, ended on March 31, 2013.

Budget to fund and re-orient federal homelessness strategy; new focus on housing
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/national/budget-to-fund-and-re-orient-federal-homelessness-strategy-new-focus-on-housing-1.95427
March 21, 2013
Over the past few years, Ottawa has funded groundbreaking research through the Mental Health Commission of Canada to figure out how much more efficient a housing-first strategy could be, especially for homeless people with mental illness. The At Home/Chez Soi research has been delivering promising results, showing that with the proper supports, many mentally ill homeless people are able to not just stay off the streets, but also get the rest of their lives in order.

Source:
Victoria Times-Colonist
http://www.timescolonist.com/

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At Home/Chez Soi project nears its end
http://www.columbiancentre.org/?p=4363
March 21, 2013
Housing first makes better use of public dollars—especially for those who are high service users.
In 2008 the federal government invested $110 million for a five year demonstration project aimed at providing evidence about what services and systems best help people experiencing serious mental illness and homelessness. The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s At Home/Chez Soi project was established as a field trial of complex interventions in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Moncton. The rigorous, multi-site, experimental research design of the At Home/Chez Soi project was expected to help identify what works, at what cost, for whom, and in which environments.
NOTE : In the second paragraph, you'll find a link to the website of each of the five participating cities.

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Quebec to dismantle 'At Home' program
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+dismantle+Home+program/8208178/story.html
By Charlie Fidelman
April 7, 2013
MONTREAL — As Ottawa budgeted new funds to provide housing for mentally ill homeless people, Quebec has quietly made plans to dismantle the At Home/Chez Soi program in Montreal. Several sources say Quebec is abandoning the five-year, $18.4-million “housing first” federal project because health falls under provincial jurisdiction, and the province had no say in how this project was set up or run. Quebec health officials, however, maintain it is not being disbanded.
(...)
The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s $110-million At Home, a five-year study on housing for hard-core itinerants with drug addictions, chronic diseases and mental illness, ended on March 31. It was based on the success of similar programs in the United States over the past two decades in addressing chronic homelessness with a “housing first” approach, coupled with services geared to the needs of the homeless, from roving health teams that include nurses, social workers, psychologists and street workers.

Montreal recruited 280 homeless people. Researchers in Moncton, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver enrolled another 2,285 people in a project some have called one of Canada’s largest social experiments.

Source:
Montreal Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/

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Related links:

At Home / Chez soi - home page
http://athome.nfb.ca/
NOTE : You need a Flash player to view much of this site.

Here At Home/Chez Soi Blog
http://athome.nfb.ca/athome/blog/
Featuring interviews, articles and updates, the "Here At Home" blog is a place where we can dig a bit deeper into some of the ideas and experiences shaping the project.

Housing First
http://www.homelesshub.ca/topics/housing-first-209.aspx

At Home / Chez Soi : Interim Report
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/system/files/private/document/Housing_At_Home_Interim_Report_ENG.pdf
September 2012
Source:
Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC)
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/
* MHCC Issues : Housing and Homelessness
http://goo.gl/7AQQt

At Home/Chez Soi
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/homelessness.aspx

A National Housing Strategy for Canada : Back to the Drawing Board
Canada is one step farther from establishing a national housing strategy.
http://goo.gl/Y8sF0
By Ele Pawelski
On February 27, Bill C-400, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, failed to pass to Committee for review. This puts a complete stop to the bill introduced by an Opposition member almost a year ago. The bill called for all levels of government to agree on a plan to ensure all Canadians have access to housing. As the voting showed, political sway dictates how Canada handles affordable housing.

It is well known that Canada is the only G8 country without a national housing strategy. Instead, the federal government uses an Affordable Housing Framework to reduce housing need across Canada

Source:
Raising the Roof
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/

Related links:

Complete bill:

Bill C-400 : An Act to ensure secure,
adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians
http://parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=5391884

Vote on Bill C-400
http://openparliament.ca/bills/votes/41-1/619/
February 27, 2013

Homelessness in a Land of Plenty
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/megan-yarema/homelessness-in-canada_b_2719674.html
February 20, 2013
A national conversation on housing is underway. This is, in part, thanks to the federal Bill C-400 calling for a national housing strategy [ http://goo.gl/FLxnF ], which was debated at second reading in the House of Commons last week. Canada currently has no such strategy and no coherent plan to address homelessness, leaving thousands of people housing insecure or homeless. Homelessness in a wealthy nation like Canada is not only unreasonable, but hard to fathom considering that cost-effective solutions are within reach.

Source:
Huffington Post (Canada)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Canada Without Poverty
http://www.cwp-csp.ca/
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada

To learn more about Bill C-400 and the upcoming vote go to the
Dignity for All website:
http://www.dignityforall.ca/en/C400

[ Dignity for All home page:
http://www.dignityforall.ca/en ]
Dignity for All is a multi-year, multi-partner, non-partisan campaign. This campaign’s vision is to make a poverty-free and more socially secure and cohesive Canada a reality by 2020.

A Plan for Alberta: Ending Homelessness in 10 Years - 3 Year Progress Report
http://humanservices.alberta.ca/documents/homelessness-3-year-progress-report.pdf
February 2013
In 2009, Alberta became the first province in Canada to commit to ending homelessness. For the next four years, the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness developed and monitored the implementation of A Plan for Alberta: Ending Homelessness in 10 Years. The Secretariat also provided strategic advice on A Plan for Alberta to Minister Hancock. The 3 Year Secretariat Report shows that Alberta is on the right track to ending homelessness, not to just manage it.

Alberta Interagency Council on Homelessness
http://humanservices.alberta.ca/homelessness/16051.html
In January 2013, the Alberta Interagency Council on Homelessness was established. It was created to enhance community input and participation in guiding the future direction of the 10-year plan Homelessness is a complex issue that must be addressed through coordinated action by a broader range of stakeholders than in the past. The Alberta Interagency Council brings together these stakeholders, including leaders of community-based organizations, shelters, other orders of government, and other provincial ministries.

Alberta Statistics on Homelessness
http://humanservices.alberta.ca/homelessness/16052.html

Source:
Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness
http://humanservices.alberta.ca/homelessness/14628.html
The Secretariat was established in January 2008 to produce the province’s long-term strategic plan to end homelessness. Accepted by the Government of Alberta in March 2009, A Plan for Alberta: Ending Homelessness in 10 Years represents a fundamental shift in Alberta’s approach to homelessness. Instead of managing homelessness, the Plan offers a roadmap to end homelessness

Alberta Human Services
http://humanservices.alberta.ca/

A Plan For Alberta : Ending Homelessness in 10 years (PDF - 1.8MB, 48 pages)
http://www.housing.alberta.ca/documents/PlanForAB_Secretariat_final.pdf
October 2008
Prepared By:
The Alberta Secretariat
For Action On Homelessness
http://www.housing.alberta.ca/Alberta_Secretariat.cfm

British Columbia Social Housing Coalition
http://www.socialhousingbc.com/
The Social Housing Coalition is a non-partisan, volunteer coalition spanning Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, and reaching out to the rest of British Columbia. We are a grassroots coalition comprised of those impacted by the current housing crisis, and we are determined to make social housing a major issue in the upcoming provincial election and beyond.
You can participate in this popular movement for social housing in a number of ways.

Stand up to fight for social Housing and Rent Control in the 2013 BC election (PDF - 2.1MB, 2 pages)
http://www.socialhousingbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/STANDS4social_housing.pdf

Infographic : Affordable Housing in Canada

A Place to Call Home
Affordable Housing in Canada: Needs, Costs & A Way Forward (PDF - 440K, 1 page)
http://www.cpj.ca/files/docs/CPJ_Affordable_housing_infographic.pdf
Selected content:
* Canadians with housing need : 3.2 Million (That’s 1 in 9 Canadians.)
People live in ‘core housing need’ if they either: spend more than they can afford on housing; live in homes in need of major repairs; or live in homes that are overcrowded.
* A shelter bed costs 10 times as much as social housing.

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice
http://www.cpj.ca/

Fixing Homelessness Means Putting Housing First
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-hwang/at-home-homeless-study_b_2536434.html
January 23, 2013
By Stephen Hwang and Paula Goering
(...) Housing First is based on the principle of providing housing to those in need before they're deemed "ready" to re-enter society. To qualify for housing, individuals don't need a job or a stable lifestyle, and they don't need to enter rehab, though once they get a home, many of them will accomplish all of these things and more.

Canada will soon finish the largest randomized trial of its kind on Housing First in the world. Overseen by the Mental Health Commission of Canada with funding from Health Canada, At Home/Chez Soi, where we are both investigators, has housed about 1,000 people with mental illness in five cities across Canada. Each participant was given a choice of apartments to live in, a rent subsidy and an assigned case worker for support.

Housing First
http://www.homelesshub.ca/topics/housing-first-209.aspx

Mental Health Commission of Canada
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/

At Home/Chez Soi
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/homelessness.aspx

Huffington Post Canada
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

A Place to Call Home
Affordable Housing in Canada: Needs, Costs & A Way Forward (PDF - 444K, 1 page)
http://www.cpj.ca/files/docs/CPJ_Affordable_housing_infographic.pdf
Infographic
January 14, 2013
Many Canadians are homeless or living with housing need. Across the country, thousands of people are waiting–sometimes up to 9 years–for affordable housing. And rental rates in numerous cities put housing out of reach for many.

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice
http://www.cpj.ca/
We are a faithful response to God’s call for love, justice and stewardship. We envision a world in which individuals, communities, societal institutions and governments all contribute to and benefit from the common good.

New from the National Housing Research Committee
(Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation):

Fall 2012 Session of the National Housing Research Committee (NHRC)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current
The Fall 2012 NHRC session was held from November 5-7, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario.
The links below will take you to the separate sections for each of the working groups (and one link to the full committee).
Each section includes a brief overview of one particular working group session at the Fall 2012 meeting, along with links to videos by each presenter and to related meeting documents. The duration of the videos varies from 20 minutes to an hour or so.

Full Committee (no video)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current/full-committee

Distinct Needs Working Group (5 videos)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current/distinct-needs-wg

Housing Data Working Group (4 videos)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current/housing-data-wg

Homelessness Working Group (3 videos)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current/homelessness-wg

Sustainable Working Group (4 videos)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/current/sustainable-wg

Previous Meetings
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/meeting/previous-meetings

Source:
National Housing Research Committee (NHRC)
http://nhrc-cnrl.ca/en/
[ See also : http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/about/whwedo/crviheco/crviheco_002.cfm ]

NHRC is part of:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/index.cfm

Eighth Annual Demographia international housing affordability survey: 2012
Ratings for metropolitan markets: Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States
http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf
By Wendell Cox and Hugh Pavletich
23 January 2012
The 2012 housing affordability survey covers the 325 urban markets of the United States (211); United Kingdom (33); Canada (35); Australia (32); New Zealand (8); Ireland (5) and Hong Kong in China (1). The survey rates housing affordability by nation (data from the 3rd quarter 2011), identifying those countries where housing is affordable, moderately unaffordable, seriously unaffordable, and severely unaffordable.

The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey is produced to contrast the deterioration in housing affordability in some metropolitan markets with the preservation of affordability in other metropolitan areas. It is dedicated to younger generations who have right to expect they will live as well or better than their parents, but may not, in large part due to the higher cost of housing.

Source:
Demographia
http://www.demographia.com/
and
Performance Urban Planning
http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/

From the
At Home/Chez Soi Blog:

Governments need to spend money before they spend money
http://athome.nfb.ca/athome/blog/?p=5062
November 6, 2012
By Nick Falvo
(...)
Quantitative approaches to research seek to measure and quantify, with as much numerical precision as possible. Qualitative research, by contrast, looks at more abstract concepts that are difficult—and not always possible—to measure. The former is generally seen as being crucial for “evidenced-based policy-making.” Indeed, the latter is prone to being dismissed, and insufficiently robust—as Toronto-based consultant Iain De Jong has pointed out, “some is not a number.”

There is an awful lot of qualitative research out there on homelessness. There’s much less research on homelessness that’s quantitative, and this is precisely what makes the At Home/Chez Soi study so important. Skeptics who want “hard facts” before seeing more public spending on social programs should also be prepared to see their elected officials agree to more public spending on research to fund that quantitative research. The money for such research won’t just fall from the sky. And there are indications that the federal government will spend less money on research in the future.

[ Author Nick Falvo is a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at Carleton University. Prior to his doctoral studies, Mr. Falvo worked for 10 years as a community social worker with homeless persons in Toronto.]

Source:
Here At Home/Chez Soi Blog
http://athome.nfb.ca/athome/blog/
Featuring interviews, articles and updates, the "Here At Home" blog is a place where we can dig a bit deeper into some of the ideas and experiences shaping the project.

Related link:

At Home : In Search of the Real Cost of Homelessness
http://athome.nfb.ca/athome/blog/?p=1842
The largest study of its kind in the world, "At Home" is the Mental Health Commission’s radical 4-year experiment to end homelessness for people with mental illness.

Source:
At Home/Chez Soi
http://athome.nfb.ca/#/athome

From the
Mental Health Commission of Canada:

At Home/Chez Soi Interim Report (PDF - 1.2MB, 49 pages)
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/AtHome-ChezSoi/AtHome_InterimReport_ENG.pdf
September 2012
In 2008 the Federal Government invested $110 million for a five year demonstration project aimed at providing evidence about what services and systems best help people experiencing serious mental illness and homelessness. The MHCC’s At Home/Chez Soi project is a pragmatic field trial of a complex intervention in the five cities of Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Moncton. The rigorous, multi-site, experimental research design of the At Home/Chez Soi project will help to identify what works, at what cost, for whom, and in which environments. It is comparing Housing First with existing approaches in each of the five cities.
Main messages:
* Housing First improves the lives of those who are homeless and have a mental illness.
* Housing first makes better use of public dollars-especially for those who are high service
* Housing First can be implemented across Canada.
* A cross ministry approach that combines health, housing, social services with non profit and private sector partners is required to solve chronic homelessness.

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Beyond Housing : At Home/Chez Soi Early Findings Report
Volume 3 – Fall 2012 (PDF - 1.3MB, 20 pages)
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/AtHome-ChezSoi/AtHome_EarlyFindingsReportVolume3_ENG.pdf
NOTE : Volume 3 is the third of the series. To see the first two such reports, along with more background info and links to the websites of participating cities, go to:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/homelessness.aspx

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Source:
Mental Health Commission of Canada
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/

Housing Again Bulletin : November 2012
http://goo.gl/UP7yQ
A monthly electronic bulletin highlighting what people are doing to put housing back on the public agenda in Ontario, across Canada and around the world.
In this issue:
* Feature : Emergency Responses to Homelessness Cost More than Supportive Housing
* News Briefs:
--- Engaging the Private Sector in Solutions to Youth Homelessness : Raising the Roof to release report and toolkit
--- Opening Eyes, Opening Minds
--- Vancouver Rent Bank Helps Prevent Homelessness
--- One Step Closer to a National Housing Strategy : Bill C-400
--- Toronto Housing Programs Face Cuts
--- Annual Eva’s Initiatives’ Awards for Ending Youth Homelessness
--- New Housing in Saskatchewan
--- Homeless Women Share Their Insights
--- Giving Up One Night’s Sleep for Homeless Youth
--- Paloma Foundation Launches New Website

Source:
Raising the Roof
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/

The Real Cost of Homelessness:
Can we save money by doing the right thing? (PDF - 892K, 19 pages)
http://homelesshub.ca/ResourceFiles/costofhomelessness_paper21092012.pdf
By Stephen Gaetz
PDF file date : October 2012
(...) Is it more cost effective to house people and / or prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place, than to let people languish in a state of homelessness, relying on emergency shelters and day programs? That is a policy question that is worth addressing.

Source:
Homeless Hub
http://www.homelesshub.ca/
The Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and resource centre, supported by the
Canadian Homelessness Research Network:
http://homelessresearch.net/

Invitation to register for live webcasts:
Meetings of National Housing Research Committee (NHRC) Working Groups
[Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation]
October 4, 2012
You are cordially invited to register for the webcasts of the Fall 2012 session of the National Housing Research Committee (NHRC), which will be broadcast on the Internet from Monday, November 5 to Tuesday, November 6, 2012 in both official languages. The NHRC session continues to be Canada’s premier venue to keep abreast of our nation's most recent housing research.

Webcast registration and
Agenda for November 5 and 6:
http://cmhc.canadacast.ca/en/register/

Sessions (small PDF files):

Monday Morning Nov 5th - Homelessness
Agenda : http://cmhc.canadacast.ca/media/HL%20Agenda_v1.pdf

Monday Afternoon Nov 5th - Housing Data
Agenda : http://cmhc.canadacast.ca/media/HD%20Agenda_v1.pdf

Tuesday Morning Nov 6th - Sustainable Housing and Communities
Agenda : http://cmhc.canadacast.ca/media/SHC%20Agenda_v1.pdf

Tuesday Afternoon Nov 6th - Distinct Needs
Agenda : http://cmhc.canadacast.ca/media/DN%20Agenda_v1.pdf

Click each of the agendas above for specific topics and guest speakers for each session..
Please register in advance.

Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/index.cfm

British Columbia

Our Home, Our Future: Projections of Rental Housing Demand and Core Housing Need to 2036
http://goo.gl/AGuAX
On Friday, September 21, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA) released Our Home, Our Future: Projections of Rental Housing Demand and Core Housing Need to 2036. The release comprises a report for all of BC and individual reports for 28 regional districts in BC. This is the first time that such projections are publicly available in BC. These reports will assist the non-profit sector, housing planners and policy makers in planning for the future of housing BC. This is a significant milestone for BCNPHA as we are seeking to build a non-profit housing strategy for the province so that all British Columbians have access to safe, secure and affordable housing.

Link to the provincial report:

Our Home, Our Future : Projections of Rental Housing Demand and Core Housing Need
British Columbia to 2036 (PDF - 2.4MB, 44 pages)
http://www.bcnpha.ca/media/BC_Need_and_Demand_Reports/00_British_Columbia_120921.pdf
September 2012

Link to all 29 reports:
http://www.bcnpha.ca/pages/research/rental-housing-demand-core-housing.php
[All regional reports are in PDF format; each report is a dozen pages long and under 2MB]

Source:
BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA)
http://www.bcnpha.ca/
BCNPHA provides leadership and support to members in creating and supporting a high standard of affordable housing throughout British Columbia.

Alberta makes strides against homelessness
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1241519
August 14, 2012
By Gillian Steward
Between 1994 and 2006, Calgary had the fastest growing number of homeless men, women and children in Canada. There were plenty of new condo towers but there wasn’t enough housing for many of the people who laboured to build those glass palaces. Today it’s a different story. Calgary’s 10-year-plan to end homelessness is showing results and has become a model for other Canadian cities. So much so, that Tim Richter, the CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF), is moving on to head up the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, a collaboration of several interest groups designed to mobilize communities across the country to develop their own ten-year plans.

[Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald.]

Source:
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/

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Related link:

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- Go to the Alberta Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/abkmrk.htm

HousingAgain Bulletin : July 2012 issue [Number 153]
http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/688376/387a274cb9/ARCHIVE
A monthly electronic bulletin highlighting what people are doing to put housing back on the public agenda in Ontario, across Canada and around the world.

Selected content from this issue:
(Click the link above to read the complete bulletin.]

National Film Board Joins Mental Health Commission of Canada
to Document At Home/Chez Soi Project
By Ele Pawelski
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB)[ http://www.nfb.ca/ ] has partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) [ http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/ ] to produce Here at Home, an interactive web documentary that connects faces and stories to MHCC’s At Home/Chez Soi project [ http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/homelessness.aspx ].

The background to this partnership is MHCC’s launch, in 2009, of a four-year pilot project to study the concept of a Housing First intervention for individuals struggling with both homelessness and mental health issues. The At Home/Chez Soi project is being conducted in five Canadian cities: Vancouver; Winnipeg; Toronto; Montreal; and Moncton. The NFB joined the project in 2011 and created the Here at Home site to document the project.

This initiative comes at a time when many Canadian cities have produced, or are in the process of producing, 10 year plans to end homelessness. In April 2012, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness [ http://www.caeh.ca/ ] was officially launched to advocate for and support development of more 10 year plans.

At its Annual Congress in May 2012 in St John’s, the Canadian Housing & Renewal Association (CHRA) [ http://www.chra-achru.ca/en/ ] launched Ending Youth Homelessness: A CHRA Policy Statement [ http://chra-achru.ca/en/index.php/our-work/youth-homelessness/ ] . The policy statement identifies the root causes of youth homelessness. It also includes recommendations for action and emphasizes that ending youth homelessness must be a national priority.

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Earlier issues of the HousingAgain Bulletin
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/Get-Informed/Resources/Housing-Again-ebulletin.aspx
- links to 22 issues back to June 2010
Recommended reading!

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Source:
Raising the Roof
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/
Raising the Roof provides strong and effective national leadership on long-term solutions to homelessness through partnership and collaboration with diverse stakeholders, investment in local communities, and public education.

Harper Government™ takes further action to strengthen Canada's housing market
http://www.fin.gc.ca/n12/12-070-eng.asp
June 21, 2012
As part of the Government’s continuous efforts to strengthen Canada’s housing finance system, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced further adjustments to the rules for government-backed insured mortgages.
(...)
The Government is announcing four measures for new government-backed insured mortgages with loan-to-value ratios of more than 80 per cent:

1. Reduce the maximum amortization period to 25 years from 30 years. This will reduce the total interest payments Canadian families make on their mortgages, helping them build up equity in their homes more quickly and pay off their mortgages sooner. The maximum amortization period was set at 35 years in 2008 and further reduced to 30 years in 2011.
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2. Lower the maximum amount Canadians can borrow when refinancing to 80 per cent from 85 per cent of the value of their homes. This will promote saving through home ownership and encourage homeowners to prudently manage borrowings against their homes.
---
3. Fix the maximum gross debt service ratio at 39 per cent and the maximum total debt service ratio at 44 per cent. This will better protect Canadian households that may be vulnerable to economic shocks or an increase in interest rates.
---
4. Limit the availability of government-backed insured mortgages to homes with a purchase price of less than $1 million.

Minister Flaherty said the new rules will take effect on July 9, 2012.

---

Related Documents:

Backgrounder: Supporting the Long-Term Stability of Canada’s Housing Market
http://www.fin.gc.ca/n12/data/12-070_1-eng.asp

Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.fin.gc.ca/n12/data/12-070_2-eng.asp

Source:
Finance Canada
http://www.fin.gc.ca/fin-eng.asp

---

Related links:

Deflating Housing Bubble Risks Recession
http://www.behindthenumbers.ca/2012/06/22/deflating-housing-bubble-riskes-recession/
June 22, 2012
By Andrew Jackson
Seen in isolation, Finance Minister Flaherty probably did the right thing yesterday in seeking to safely deflate the housing bubble and lower the dangerous growth of household credit to a record level as a share of household income. But he did it very late in the game, and risks tipping an already very fragile economy into recession if he and the provincial governments do not ease up on fiscal austerity.

The government is dropping the maximum amortization period for CMHC insured mortgages from 30 years to 25 years, lowering the percentage of household income which is taken up to service an insured mortgage, lowering the maximum amount of insured mortgages to below $1 Million, and limiting the amount of home equity that can be withdrawn when refinancing. The major impact is expected to be to lower demand for new mortgages for first-time buyers, which will take some steam out of an already slowing housing market, especially the condo market.

[Author Andrew Jackson is Chief Economist with the Canadian Labour Congress - http://canadianlabour.ca/ ]

Source:
Behind the Numbers
http://www.behindthenumbers.ca/

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/

Federal government tightens mortgage terms
http://www.theprovince.com/business/Federal+government+tightens+mortgage+terms/6817982/story.html
By Jason Fekete
June 21, 2012
OTTAWA — The federal government is moving once again to tighten mortgage-lending rules amid lingering concerns about an overheated housing market and rising household debt levels. In a decision called for by some of the big banks — and one that's expected to soften housing prices — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Thursday the federal government is reducing the maximum amortization period for a government-insured mortgage to 25 years from 30 years. It's the third time the Harper government has reduced the maximum amortization period in the last four years, after it initially increased the lengths of mortgage terms to make it easier for Canadians to purchase homes.

Source:
The Province (Vancouver)
http://www.theprovince.com/

Canada’s Rental Vacancy Rate Decreases
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2012/2012-06-12-0815.cfm
News Release
June 12, 2012
The average rental apartment vacancy rate in Canada's 35 major centres1 decreased slightly to 2.3 per cent in April 2012, from 2.5 per cent in April 2011, according to the spring Rental Market Survey released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. (...) The results of CMHC’s spring survey reveal that, in April 2012, the major centres with the lowest vacancy rates were: Regina (0.6 per cent); Québec and Saguenay (0.7 per cent); and Guelph (1.0 per cent). At the provincial level, Manitoba has the lowest vacancy rate at 1.2 per cent. The survey reveals that the major centres with the highest vacancy rates were: Saint John (8.4 per cent); Windsor (7.7 per cent); Kelowna (5.2 per cent); and Moncton and Charlottetown (5.0 per cent). On a provincial basis, the highest vacancy rate was in New Brunswick (6.2 per cent).

To access CMHC’s 2012 reports on the rental market select from the links below:

Rental Market Report — Canada Highlights
http://goo.gl/RSz1p
- contains at a glance rental market information for Canada’s 35 major centres

Rental Market Report — Provincial Highlights
http://goo.gl/7SCbb
- provides a summary of rental market statistics for urban centres with populations of 10,000 and more in each province and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Rental Market Statistics Report
http://goo.gl/nxfgb
- sourcebook of statistical tables with national, provincial and local rental housing market data.

Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/

Governments of Canada and Ontario Celebrate New Affordable Housing
http://goo.gl/Xu5xe
May 22, 2012
Toronto, ON - The Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the City of Toronto joined YWCA Toronto to celebrate the official opening of 300 affordable housing units. The project is supported by $21 million in funding through the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program. The construction of the affordable housing component of the YWCA Elm Centre has created up to 750 jobs in Ontario and helps to meet the housing needs of families and individuals in the Toronto area.
(...) The Government of Canada, through CMHC, will invest more than $2 billion in housing this year. Of this amount, $1.7 billion will be spent in support of almost 605,000 households living in existing social housing. In Ontario, this represents some 237,750 households.
(...) Ontario continues to build new affordable housing and repair existing units. Since 2003, Ontario's investment in affordable housing has translated into the construction and repair of more than 270,000 housing units and the provision of 35,000 rent supplements for Ontario families on fixed incomes.

Backgrounder:
New affordable housing rental units for seniors, persons with disabilities and families in Ontario
http://goo.gl/lM8yC
List of 27 projects that received combined $144.93 million federal/provincial funding under Canada's Economic Action Plan and the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program Agreement.
NOTE: The above backgrounder is part of a news release from the City of Ottawa announcing the new funding; click the link above and scroll halfway down the next page for the list of 27 projects, including name of the community, street address of the project, the number of units and the total federal and provincial funding for each project.

Related links:

Affordable housing is a key component of
Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy:
http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/breakingthecycle/index.aspx

Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy - Government of Ontario (PDF - 1.1MB, 20 pages)
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=8590

Affordable housing in Ontario
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page126.aspx

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
http://www.cmhc.ca/en/index.cfm

Ontario Ministry of Municpal Affairs and Housing
http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/page11.aspx

Canada's Economic Action Plan
http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/eng/index.asp

The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness:
New Alliance Champions End to Homelessness in Canada
http://goo.gl/qM7QZ
April 5, 2012
News Release
Calgary --- The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) today released "A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in 10 Years," aiming to start a national movement to end homelessness in Canada. The CAEH will champion an end to homelessness in Canada by mobilizing communities and governments across the country to develop and implement their own 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness (10 Year Plans).

Complete report:

A Plan, Not a Dream:
How to End Homelessness in 10 Years (PDF - 1MB, 14 pages)
http://www.caeh.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/A-Plan-Not-a-Dream_Eng-FINAL-TR.pdf

Source:
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH)
http://www.endinghomelessness.ca/
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness was formed to create a national movement to end homelessness in Canada from the community up through the development of 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness in communities across the country. The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness is a Canadian non-profit corporation. It will have a small staff of less than three full time employees with satellite offices in Toronto and Calgary hosted by the Wellesley Institute and the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

CAEH Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/endinghomelessness

CAEH Partners:

Canadian Housing & Renewal Association
http://www.chra-achru.ca/en/

Canadian Homelessness Research Network
http://homelessresearch.net/

Federation of Canadian Municipalities
http://www.fcm.ca/

National Alliance to End Homelessness
http://www.endhomelessness.org/

International Alliance to End Homelessness
http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/_iaeh

Wellesley Institute
http://wellesleyinstitute.com/

Calgary Homeless Foundation
http://calgaryhomeless.com/

Report Card on Ending Homelessness Jan - Dec. 2011 released:
First ever "A" (Word file - 59K, 3 pages)
http://goo.gl/ZFysy
April 3, 2011
[ Version française du communiqué:
http://goo.gl/HalWK ]

In Ottawa, the first ever "A" grade since the Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) starting producing report cards in 2004 was given. The "A" grade was for new affordable housing created in 2011. An "A" is awarded when new affordable housing is provided for 700-1,000 households, either through the building of new units or assistance to pay rent.
"The City of Ottawa is to be commended for quickly rolling out in 2011 its new $14 million for the Housing and Homelessness Investment Plan," said Lynne Browne, Executive Director of the ATEH. "City spending accounted for 508 of the 536 households receiving assistance to pay rent. That leadership demonstrates conclusively how targeted spending developed in consultation with community organizations can go beyond maintaining the level of homelessness and actually start moving towards ending it."
"In contrast, two of the three other areas we measure received a failing grade of "F" and the third one a "D+", said Browne.

Complete report (PDF - 4.2MB, 16 pages)
http://goo.gl/NBttI

Version française complète: (fichier PDF - 3,6Mo., 16 pages)
http://goo.gl/QcInq

[ homelessness reports cards for previous years (2004-2009) ]

Source:
Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa
The Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa (ATEH) is a non-profit organization whose mandate is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its member organizations working in the area of housing in Ottawa.

---

Related link:

Ottawa gets an A for efforts to house the homeless but low marks for affordability, wait times
http://goo.gl/99ghQ
By Louisa Taylor
April 4, 2012
(...)
The A grade in the area of affordable housing for 2011 was the direct result of a new commitment from the City of Ottawa to provide $14 million for housing and anti-poverty programs.

Source:
Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

From
The Homeless Hub Newsletter - February 6, 2012:
http://goo.gl/R5OEm

Homelessness in Calgary Down for the First Time in 20 Years
http://goo.gl/TcXOf
February 6, 2012
News Release
The Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) is pleased to report the 2012 homeless count shows an 11.4 per cent decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness since 2008.

The report:

The State of Homelessness in Calgary in 2012 (PDF - 460K, 18 pages)
http://calgaryhomeless.com/assets/research/The-State-of-Homelessnessonlineversion.pdf
February 3, 2012
Key Findings:
1. Results to date show that the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in Calgary is working.
2. We are on track with 10 Year Plan projections. We are meeting the promise of Housing First for people housed under the 10 Year Plan.
3. Calgary is the epicentre of homelessness in Alberta, driven by migration, and the labour and rental market.
4. Emerging trends suggest family homelessness is increasingly becoming a regional rather than local phenomenon. Prevention and Housing First programs are working, but Calgary is seeing a high number of Aboriginal and immigrant families in family shelters.
5. The size of the at-risk for homelessness pool may be smaller than originally thought.

(Excerpt, p.2):
The 10 Year Plan, initially launched in 2008, was revised and updated in 2011 with a renewed focus on system planning. Its priorities continue to be the reduction of chronic homelessness and emergency shelter use, while demonstrating client benefits from Housing First interventions and decreases in health, correction and shelter services use.
10 Year Plan Milestones
• House 1,500 chronic and episodically homeless people by 2014
• By 2014, ensure that no more than 10% of those served by “Housing First” programs return to homelessness
• By December 2014, all individuals who engage in rough sleeping will have access to housing and support options appropriate to their needs
• Eliminate 85% of 2010 emergency shelter beds by 2018
• Reduce the average length of stay in family emergency shelters to 14 days by Dec. 2014 and to seven days by December 2018
• Reduce the average length of stay in emergency shelters to seven days by January 2018

The Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Calgary
http://calgaryhomeless.com/10-year-plan/progress/
- incl. links to:
* Progress * Fundamentals * Milestones * Strategies * Guiding Principles * History

Source:
Calgary Homeless Foundation
[ http://calgaryhomeless.com/ ]
Our mission : To end homelessness in Calgary.
Our vision : By January 29, 2018, an individual or family will stay in an emergency shelter or sleep outside for no longer than one week before moving into a safe, decent, affordable home with the support needed to sustain it.

Related link:

Alberta announces $3.2b plan to end homelessness
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/blog/alberta_announces__3_2b_plan_to_end_homelessness/
March 16, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Alberta government has today released a dramatic plan to end homelessness in 10 years by committing $1.2 billion in capital investments and $2 billion in operating funding. The plan – based on the “housing first” approach (which provides immediate housing and then offers supports as required) – will lead to the creation of 11,000 new homes by 2012, according to the provincial government. Full details, including funding and implementation lines, will be released in next month’s provincial budget.

The Alberta Plan:

[ Alberta Municipal Affairs
http://municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/ ]

---

Also in the February 6 issue of the
Calgary Homeless FoundationThe Homeless Hub Newsletter:
http://goo.gl/R5OEm
[ Click the link above to access any of the items below. ]

* Homelessness in Calgary Down for the First Time in 20 Years
* Housing Subsidies and Homelessness: A Simple Idea
* Working Rough, Living Poor
* The Housing Market and Canada's Economic Recovery
* Mobilizing homeless youth for HIV prevention
* Inuit Housing and Homelessness
* Youth on the Street and Youth Involved with Child Welfare: Maltreatment, Mental Health and Substance Use

Earlier issues of The Homeless Hub Newsletter <==== Links to 20 issues back to October 2010
http://www.homelesshub.ca/Topics/Homeless-Hub-Newsletter-620.aspx

Source:
The Homeless Hub
http://www.homelesshub.ca/
Building on the success of the Canadian Conference on Homelessness in 2005 [ http://goo.gl/LvvJN ], the Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada.

Raising the Roof Toque Campaign - Let's Put a Cap on Youth Homelessness!
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/Our-Programs/Toque-Campaign.aspx
2011/2012 marks the 15th anniversary of the Toque Campaign.
The campaign runs from November 2011 to the end of February 2012.
Toque Tuesday is February 7th.
Buy yourself a stylish, toasty-warm toque and support solutions to homelessness in communities across Canada.

To date, the Toque Campaign has generated over $3.3 million in grants – money that has been used to support 145 homelessness-serving agencies in 70 communities across Canada, as well as Raising the Roof’s national Youthworks initiative, which focuses on long-term solutions to youth.

Source:
Raising the Roof / Chez toit --- Long term solutions to Canada's homeless
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/default.aspx
Raising the Roof provides strong and effective national leadership on long-term solutions to homelessness through partnership and collaboration with diverse stakeholders, investment in local communities, and public education.

Also from Raising the Roof:

Housing Again Bulletin No.148 - February 2012
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/688376/cdc8f83ef5/
Contents:
Feature: Historic Meeting Lays Out Commitment to First Nations People (Crown-First Nations summit)
Community Spotlight: Tokens4Change --- Students Raise Awareness of Youth Homelessness
News Briefs

Youthworks
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/Our-Programs/Youthworks.aspx
This national initiative is aimed at helping to solve youth homelessness.
Why the focus on youth? It’s simple. We believe that the best way to prevent long-term homelessness is to address the issue when people are young.

Shared Learnings
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/Our-Programs/Shared-Learnings.aspx
Developed by Raising the Roof, www.sharedlearnings.org makes practical tools and information accessible to the hundreds of organizations across Canada that work to address homelessness in their communities.

January 24, 2012

New from
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation:

CMHC 2011 Canadian Housing Observer

HTML version:
http://www.cmhc.ca/en/corp/about/cahoob/cahoob_001.cfm
PDF version (8.7MB, 184 pages)
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/pdf/67508.pdf?fr=1327596686971

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Français:
L'Observateur du logement au Canada 2011 de la SCH ]
Version HTML
http://www.cmhc.ca/fr/inso/info/obloca/obloca_001.cfm ]
Version PDF (9.4MB, 200 pages)
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/pdf/67509.pdf?fr=1327597155983

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Observer is CMHC's annual flagship publication that provides comprehensive insight into Canada's housing market and is a key resource for Canada's housing experts, including housing finance and real estate professionals, policy makers, researchers, educators and builders. This year's feature article is on Housing Finance.

Table of contents:
· Overview
· Canadian Housing at a Glance — Dashboard
· Housing Finance
· Household Indebtedness
· Housing Markets
· Demographic and Socio-economic Influences on Housing Demand
· Recent Trends in Housing Affordability and Core Housing Need
· Sustainable, Housing and Communities
· Seniors' Housing
· The Evolution of Social Housing

The analysis contained in the Observer is complemented by a broad range of online detailed data tables that provide information on all of Canada's major housing markets, analytic reports, and CMHC's Housing in Canada Online (HiCO) tool.

· Data tables
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/about/cahoob/data/index.cfm

· Housing in Canada Online
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/about/cahoob/cahoob_002.cfm

· Housing market information
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/hoficlincl/homain/index.cfm

Previous issues (2003 to 2010)
https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/catalog/productList.cfm?cat=122&lang=en&fr=1327599387500

Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/

Société canadienne d’hypothèques et de logement
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/fr/index.cfm

Get practical on homelessness
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/practical+homelessness/5920153/story.html
December 29, 2011
There is one national project that combines the best instincts of the political left with the best instincts of the political right, a project that could have an enormous practical impact in the next few years, if policy-makers give it the attention it deserves. Canada should build on its first cautious efforts to end chronichomelessness.
(...) The Mental Health Commission of Canada has been running a research demonstration project called At Home/Chez Soi for a few years, comparing the results of a housing-first model with more traditional services. The results so far are promising. The research projects will end in 2013. The goal is to “collectively develop a body of evidence to help Canada become a world leader in providing services to homeless people living with a mental illness.”
The projects have been running in five cities — Moncton, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Winnipeg — and importantly, each city’s project is tailored to its own population and circumstances. But the national scope is important. It has already allowed the researchers to learn generalizable lessons about such problems as securing housing in tight markets. A national effort, backed up with sufficient funding, might also provide cities and provinces with an incentive to break down the silos that have hampered holistic anti-homelessness efforts in the past.
Source:
Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

Related links:

At Home/Chez Soi
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/homelessness.aspx
The At Home/Chez Soi research demonstration project is investigating mental health
and homelessness in five Canadian cities: Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

What's happening in each of the five participating cities?

Moncton:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/MonctonResearch.aspx
- one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, with a shortage of services for Anglophones and Francophones.

Montreal:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/MontrealResearch.aspx
- different mental health services provided to homeless people in Quebec.

Toronto:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/TorontoResearch.aspx
- ethno-cultural diversity including new immigrants who are non-English speaking.

Winnipeg:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/WinnipegResearch.aspx
- urban Aboriginal population.

Vancouver:
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/VancouverResearch.aspx
- people who struggle with substance abuse and addictions.

The Federal Government’s Northern Strategy and
Implications for Housing in the Northwest Territories

On November 24, Frances Abele and Nick Falvo presented findings from their respective chapters in How Ottawa Spends 2011-12: Trimming Fat or Slicing Pork?
at an official launch and panel discussion (small PDF file), in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

In the November 27 issue (3rd item) of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/personal/news271111.htm
... you'll find links to a blog posting by author Nick Falvo in the Progressive Economics Forum about the project, to a summary of and presentation notes on Nick's work, and to a summary of Frances Abele's chapter in How Ottawa Spends on the subject of the Conservatives’ Northern Development Strategy. The link below is to the complete 19-page chapter by Nick in How Ottawa Spends.

---

Government-Assisted Housing in the Northwest Territories
and the Role of the Federal Government (PDF - 460K, 19 pages)
http://www.mqupblog.com/falvo.pdf
Nick Falvo
[Excerpt:]
This chapter [of How Ottawa Spends] examines the housing situation in the Northwest Territories, especially as it affects low-income residents.
Topics discussed in this chapter include the manner in which government-assisted housing is administered in the NWT, as well as the uniqueness of government-assisted housing in the nwt. Building costs, forms of government-assisted housing, recent policies of senior levels of government, and other emerging issues in the NWT combine to create a unique public policy study.
Source:
How Ottawa Spends, 2011-2012
Trimming Fat or Slicing Pork?
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=2697
By Christopher Stoney and G. Bruce Doern
A critical examination of the Harper Conservative's fiscal austerity strategies in the wake of Budget 2011-2012 and the often bitter politics of continued minority government.

[ Table of contents of the book:
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/extra.php?id=1179 ]
[ McGill-Queen's University Press
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/ ]

---

Housing in the Northwest Territories
By Nick Falvo
November 26, 2011
Last week, I was in Yellowknife, where I released results of new research on affordable housing in the Northwest Territories (NWT). The research project was sponsored by the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, and was a collaboration with the Centre for Northern Families. (...) The research results, which appear as a chapter in the 2011-2012 edition of How Ottawa Spends, suggest that a long-term, permanent commitment is required by the federal government in order to sustain housing in the NWT. The chapter argues that it’s more cost effective for the federal government to reinvest the savings it accrues (as current agreements run out) into fixing already-existing housing, than it would be to allow current units to disappear completely and to then rebuild from scratch.
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum

---

Use it or Lose It : The Conservatives’
Northern Development Strategy:
Summary (PDF - 146K, 1 page)
By Frances Abele
This chapter is about the Conservative government’s policies and actions towards the North since 2006. The Conservative policies are compared to those of earlier Liberal federal governments. They are also compared to the needs and wishes of northerners.

---

Government-Assisted Housing in the Northwest
Territories and the Role of the Federal Government:
Summary (164K, 1 page)
By Nick Falvo
This chapter is about housing (especially for low-income households) in the Northwest Territories. The chapter compares housing in the NWT with housing in the rest of Canada.

[ Download Nick's Powerpoint presentation - (1.7MB, 37 slides)] [ Free Powerpoint viewer ]

Source:
The Homeless Hub : Northwest Territories
[ The Homeless Hub : National (Canada) ]
The mission of the Homeless Hub is to provide a single online tool for homelessness stakeholders from across Canada to use, to find the research, strategy and policy information they need to make informed decisions when creating effective solutions. (...) As a one-stop-shop, the Homeless Hub is a place where community services providers, researchers, government representatives, people who have experienced homelessness and the general public can access and share research, stories, and best practices

---------------------------

From CBC North:

New Report Paints Grim Picture of Public Housing in the NWT
CBC Special Report
November 24, 2011
This is a transcript of the interview by the CBC's Joslyn Oosenbrug with the authors of the study, Nick Falvo from the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration, and Arlene Hache from the Centre of Northern Families in Yellowknife to discuss their findings.

CBC NorthBeat (YouTube video : duration 5:13)
This news video focuses on the release of the reports by Frances Abele and Nick Falvo.

---

- Go to the Northwest Territories Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ntbkmrk.htm

The Privatization of Social Housing
By Nick Falvo
November 5, 2011
Last weekend, I spoke on a panel at the Annual Conference of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association. The panel was inspired in large part by the recent debate in Toronto over Mayor Rob Ford’s attempt to sell social housing units to private buyers. The panel, entitled “To Privatize or Not to Privatize? That is the question,” included myself, Vince Brescia (President and CEO of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario), John Dickie (President of the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations), and Margie Carlson (Director of Policy Research and Networks at the Social Housing Services Corporation).
- [incl. speaking notes from Nick Falvo]
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum
The Progressive Economics Forum aims to promote the development of a progressive economics community in Canada. The PEF brings together over 125 progressive economists, working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations.

New release:

At Home/Chez Soi
Research Demonstration Project in Mental Health and Homelessness : Toronto Site
October 2011 Update (PDF - 222K, 4 pages)"At Home/Chez Soi" Toronto Site Update #4: October 2011 (PDF attached).

580 people are now enrolled in "At Home/Chez Soi" in Toronto. This update includes some of what we've learned so far about participants and their experiences, as well as updates from the different groups involved in the project.

"At Home/Chez Soi" Research Demonstration Project in Mental Health and Homelessness is a five-city national research project exploring ways to help the growing number of homeless people across Canada who have mental health problems. The project is funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

To learn more about the Toronto site, visit
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/english/pages/TorontoResearch.aspx

For past issues of the "At Home/Chez Soi" Toronto Site Update, visit
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com/crich/projects/athome.php

To subscribe to/be removed from this list,
or to provide comments, please contact Emily Holton at holtone@smh.ca

At Home/Chez Soi
The At Home/Chez Soi research demonstration project is investigating mental health
and homelessness in five Canadian cities: Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

What's happening in each of the five participating cities?

Moncton: one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, with a shortage of services for Anglophones and Francophones.

Montreal: different mental health services provided to homeless people in Quebec.

Toronto: ethno-cultural diversity including new immigrants who are non-English speaking.

Winnipeg: urban Aboriginal population.

Vancouver: people who struggle with substance abuse and addictions.

Links to more information about At Home/Chez Soi - this link takes you to a Google.ca search results page with more related resources

Ontario

Minority Ontario government creates opportunity
to bring in much-needed four-point housing plan
By Michael Shapcott
October 7, 2011
The minority Liberal government voters elected on October 6 provides a political opportunity for Ontario to realize a long-overdue and much-needed four-point affordable housing plan. The province’s last two minority governments delivered robust housing initiatives: In 1975, the province’s first rent regulation and tenant protection laws, which grew more substantial and effective until they were significantly dismantled in 1998; and Ontario’s first major affordable housing programs in 1985, which were successfully increased until they were shut down in 1995.

The signs of Ontario’s province-wide housing distress are clear:
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/Housing-Election-20112.pdf (466K, 2 pages)
- one in every three Ontario renter households are in core housing need – the federal government’s definition of precarious housing. Approximately 1.3 million provincial households pay 30 percent or more of their income on housing, the official definition of unaffordable housing.

A four-point housing agenda for the new minority Ontario government would include the following:
1. New affordable homes
2. Affordability measures
3. Rent regulation / rental housing protection
4. Ending homelessness / linking with supports

Source:
Wellesley Institute
The Wellesley Institute is a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute. Our focus is on developing research and community-based policy solutions to the problems of urban health and health disparities.

Ontario

Housing and human rights in Ontario: How to fight for your rights
July 20, 2011
This video looks at human rights enforcement and provides introductory information on how to legally challenge housing discrimination in Ontario.

Human Rights and Housing in Ontario
July 20, 2011
This video has information on Ontario's Human Rights Code and how it applies to rental housing. It looks at what housing discrimination is, who is protected by the Code, and what rental practices are illegal.

Source:
CLEONet - Information to help you understand and exercise your legal rights in Ontario
CLEONet is a web site of legal information for community workers and advocates who work with low-income and disadvantaged communities. CLEONet has resources, news, events, and webinars produced by community organizations and legal clinics across Ontario. CLEONet is a project of CLEO and is funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE - well worth a visit!

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO)
CLEO is a community legal clinic, founded in 1974, that specializes in public legal education. CLEO is administered by a volunteer board of directors, and funded by Legal Aid Ontario and the Department of Justice Canada. Staff include lawyers, editors and support staff. Most of our publications are written for people with low incomes, and other disadvantaged groups, including immigrants and refugees, seniors, women and injured workers.

* CLEONet Services Map - find key legal and social services in your community [Ontario only]
* Resources - Legal information from community organizations across Ontario
* News & Events - Latest news and events about legal issues and law reform
* Webinars - Online public legal education workshops
Resources by legal topic:
* Abuse and Family Violence * Aboriginal Law * Consumer Law * Criminal Law * Education Law * Employment and Work * Environmental Law * Family Law * Health and Disability * Housing Law * Human Rights * Immigration and Refugee Law * Legal System * Social Assistance and Pensions * Wills and Estates

Ontarians need a housing benefit (PDF - 156K, 1 page)
June 15, 2011
Media release
TORONTO – Despite an improving economy, people visiting food banks in the Greater Toronto Area are still struggling. The Hunger Snapshot report, released today, shows that food bank clients spend 72 per cent of their income on housing costs. When families are struggling to make ends meet and have to make a choice between paying the rent and putting food on the table, it is usually food that is sacrificed.

Housing Benefit --- find out more about the proposed Ontario Housing Benefit and how you can help make it a reality.

Hunger Snapshot:
Fighting Hunger (PDF - 1.3MB, 6 pages)
2011 Profile of Hunger in the Greater Toronto Area
June 15, 2011
This snapshot here is just that – some statistical highlights from the 2011 survey to provide you with a brief picture of poverty and hunger in the GTA. This year, we will be releasing the full report on the results of the survey on September 21, 2011 at the launch of Daily Bread’s Fall Drive.
[ Publications - links to earlier Toronto hunger reports back to 2005 ]

Source:
Daily Bread Food Bank (Toronto)

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Rental Assistance in New York City :
A Cautionary Tale for Canada?

From the
New York Times:

Clock Ticks for a Key Homeless Program
By Mosi Secret
May 31, 2011
With New York City’s shelter population near all-time highs, the Bloomberg administration is on the verge of ending its signature housing program for homeless families, saying the program’s generosity might have contributed to the problem. The program, called Advantage, started in 2007 and offers subsidies for up to two years to help people in shelters afford their own apartments, provided they work or take part in job training. But several months ago, the administration warned that if the state followed through with its plan to stop its financial support, the city could not afford to maintain the program and would cut off aid even to those already participating. After those warnings, the number of applicants to enter shelters dropped by 17 percent, evidence, the city said, that the program might have enticed some people to leave their homes for the promise of the subsidy.
[ Readers' Comments (78)]

Related link:

Homelessness alliance likes city’s budget:
$14M will make difference, group says
By Tom Spears
April 11, 2011
The Alliance to End Homelessness has been doing an annual report card for Ottawa for years, but chair Marion Wright says this year is different: “a time of hope.” With one F and no mark above C+, this year’s report card doesn’t look so good on the surface. There has been one solid gain, though, Wright said Monday in presenting the report: Ottawa had 334 new units of affordable housing in 2010, far better than the 88 units added a year earlier. Her target remains 1,000 new units a year. The big news, she said, is in the city’s new budget, which promises $10 million in new investment to fight homelessness and poverty plus a further $4 million in capital funding.
Source:
Ottawa Citizen

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- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

Winnipeg Street Health Report 2011 (PDF - 4.6MB, 48 pages)
By Suzanne Gessler and Christina Maes
Released April 5, 2011
The Winnipeg Street Health Report presents the results of a survey on the health status of homeless people in Winnipeg conducted in the summer of 2010. The report provides an analysis of survey participants’ responses, seeking to help build an overview of homelessness in Winnipeg and contributing to an understanding of the daily living conditions of people experiencing this devastating social problem. The fndings focus on the physical and mental health status of homeless people, how they use health care and social services, and their experiences of accessing these systems. (...) The Winnipeg Street Health Report has been modeled on similar reports conducted in other major Canadian cities. The ability to compare and contrast the Winnipeg fndings with other jurisdictions can contribute to our further understanding of homelessness in general and in particular contexts.
Source:
Main Street Project - Supporting individuals in need since 1972
The Main Street Project has been serving the needs of Winnipeg's most vulnerable residents since 1972. By providing emergency shelter and food services, a drug and alcohol detoxification unit, on-site counseling, transitional housing, and a range of other critical services, we work to support our clients' basic needs, while ensuring their opportunity to make real choices and have meaningful progress, each and every day

-------------------------------

CBC coverage:

Study highlights lives of Winnipeg homeless
60 per cent of Winnipeg's homeless are aboriginal, report states
April 5, 2011
The report took a survey of 300 homeless Winnipeggers. The stark day-to-day realities of hundreds of Winnipeg’s homeless have been documented in an in-depth study highlighting its many causes. The Winnipeg Street Health Report also looks at ways of preventing homelessness.
Source:
CBC News

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From the
Winnipeg Free Press:

Unique report outlines perils of living on street
April 6, 2011
One out of every five homeless women said she's been sexually assaulted in the past year, according to a first-of-its-kind report looking into the lives of 300 of Winnipeg's homeless people. The Winnipeg Street Health Report, which was released Tuesday, contains insight based on interviews with 90 homeless women and 210 men. Interviews for the 48-page report took place last summer, after researchers contacted people through the city's social-service organizations. The study explores different problems homeless people deal with on a daily basis, from bedbugs in shelters to difficulties for some women to afford sanitary pads and tampons.

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Homeless persons point way
Editorial
April 6, 2011
A Winnipeg survey billed as the first specifically designed for the homeless reveals that emergency shelters are used sporadically. The city's reliance on charity-based shelters means the root of the problem goes unaddressed.
The Winnipeg Street Health Report, conducted for the Main Street Project, makes a strong case for a new strategy -- public investment in a "housing first" model used in other jurisdictions. In a pilot project, the concept saw 78 homeless Winnipeggers with identified mental illnesses set up in supported, stable housing in December.
The idea is to deal first with the dysfunction bred by homelessness so that underlying causes can be addressed amid stability

Source:
Winnipeg Free Press

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- Go to the Manitoba Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/mbkmrk.htm

At Home/Chez Soi
[ Version française du site ]
The At Home/Chez Soi research demonstration project is investigating mental health and homelessness in five Canadian cities: Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. A total of 2285 homeless people living with a mental illness will participate. 1,325 people from that group will be given a place to live, and will be offered services to assist them over the course of the initiative. The remaining participants will receive the regular services that are currently available in their cities. As of February, 2011 - over 1,600 people have become project participants, and over 700 now have homes. The overall goal is to provide evidence about what services and systems could best help people who are living with a mental illness and are homeless. At the same time, the project will provide meaningful and practical support for hundreds of vulnerable people.

What's happening in each of the five participating cities?

Moncton: one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, with a shortage of services for Anglophones and Francophones.

Montreal: different mental health services provided to homeless people in Quebec.

Toronto: ethno-cultural diversity including new immigrants who are non-English speaking.

Winnipeg: urban Aboriginal population.

Vancouver: people who struggle with substance abuse and addictions.

Source:
Mental Health Commission of Canada

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Related links:

What? Another study?
Study on homeless unlikely to tell us anything we don't know
By Kelly Egan
March 11, 2011
(...) OK. See if we get this straight. One group of homeless will be given permanent homes, help with social and health problems, support with daily living. The other group will not be given homes and will have to navigate the patchwork of services available, which are obviously inadequate or they wouldn't be sleeping in shelters or cardboard hotels. For $110 million, we want to know "which approach works best." Well, call me Einstein, but I'm going with Door No. 1...
Source:
Ottawa Citizen

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Facing facts about poverty
Editoria
March 7, 2011
Poverty is not a choice. In fact, a deeply-ingrained sense of hopelessness, of a continuing lack of choices, is both a result and a cause of the continuing cycle that traps about three million Canadians – about one of every nine of us. Being poor is miserable. It is demoralizing, unhealthy, stigmatizing and stressful. It is frustrating and it is discouraging. No one in poverty – or, crucially, the professionals who work to combat poverty – see being poor as a “holiday” from personal responsibility or from work. And yet a survey commissioned by the Salvation Army, as part of its new Dignity Project initiative, shows that half or nearly half of Canadians believe that if people really want to work, they can always find a job; that a family of four can “get by” on $10,000 to $30,000 a year; that people who live in poverty in Canada “still have it pretty good.” One out of every four Canadians blames poverty on laziness and low moral values.
(...)
Reducing poverty is not going to happen by trying to change the people who are poor. It is going to happen when we all fully understand the benefits not just to society but to our economy by removing roadblocks, shattering the stereotypes, allowing people to build on assistance without penalizing them immediately for it. There are success stories in Hamilton’s poorest neighbourhoods, where innovative programs are focusing not just on employment skills but on self-confidence, self-education, physical and mental health. What the Salvation Army initiative does is try to make Canadians recognize the realities of poverty; that clarity could lead to better understanding of what is needed to reduce it.
Source:
Hamilton Spectator

The 2010 Whitehorse Housing Adequacy Study (PDF - 611K, 88 pages) was designed to address a long-standing need for statistical information on homelessness and housing challenges in the Whitehorse area. While it is not intended to be representative of the whole Whitehorse population, it provides a snapshot of a vulnerable sub-population during a specific time period. (...) The survey was created by the Department of Health and Social Services in partnership with the Yukon Bureau of Statistics and the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition. (...)

Dimensions of Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion in Yukon 2010 (PDF - 1.3MB, 216 pages) is a rich compilation of data using social indicators such as personal and community assets, access to necessities and participation in society. These documents are the foundation that will provide the information and evidence needed to develop the strategy.

Source:
Yukon Health and Social Services

Homeless in the Homeland:
A Growing Problem For Indigenous People in Canada's North
November 2010
By Frances Abele, Nick Falvo and Arlene Haché*
Today, homelessness and inadequate housing in northern Canada disproportionately afflicts Indigenous people. This is a striking fact in a region where Indigenous people lived very independently (though of course not autarkicly) until the second half of the twentieth century. In the years since then both economic development and state initiatives have transformed their lives.
Source:
Parity Magazine : November 2010 "Homelessness and Dispossession" Edition
Parity is the national homelessness publication of the Council to Homeless Persons in Australia
[ * Frances Abele is professor of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, Ottawa. Nick Falvo is a doctoral candidate in the same program. Arlene Haché is executive director of the Yellowknife Women’s Society. ]

Council to Homeless Persons (Australia)
Established in 1972, the Council to Homeless Persons is the peak Victorian body representing individuals and organisations with a stake or interest in homelessness.

2010 Canadian Housing Observer
The Canadian Housing Observer presents a detailed annual review of housing conditions and trends in Canada and of the key factors behind them. It is an ideal resource for housing planners; researchers; policy makers; home builders; mortgage and real estate professionals; and municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal housing specialists. The annual Housing Observer report examines the state of Canada's housing from a variety of perspectives, combining national coverage with provincial/territorial and metropolitan detail. The report discusses influences on housing demand, current market developments, housing finance, housing affordability, and other topics.
- includes links to individual chapters in PDF format:
* Overview
* Canadian Housing at a Glance — Dashboard (graphics)
* Housing and the Economy
* Housing Finance
* Current Market Developments
* Demographic and Socio-economic Influences on Housing Demand
* Recent Trends in Housing Affordability and Core Housing Need
* An Exploration of Alternative Measures of Housing Need
* The EQuilibrium™ Initiatives

Download a free PDF copy
of the full 2010 Canadian Housing Observer
- includes a link to the French version

[ previous editions of the Canadian Housing Observer - 2003-2009 ]

Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Related link:

Commentary by Nick Falvo on the
2010 Canadian Housing Observer
December 11, 2010
(...) In 2006, just under 13 percent of Canadian households were considered to be in “core housing need” (which usually means that they are paying more than 30 percent of gross monthly income on housing). But the figure for Nunavut was just over 37 percent, by far the highest of any province or territory. And just over 20 percent of Aboriginal households across Canada are in core housing need.
Source:
Relentlessly Progressive Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]
Economic policy-making and economics instruction in Canada have both increasingly come to reflect a conservative, free-market perspective. There is an urgent need to promote an alternative, progressive economics community in Canada.Over 125 progressive economists—working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations—have joined forces to make our collective, critical perspective heard. We have formed the Progressive Economics Forum. [ About PEF ]

Ontario

McGuinty Government Releases [Affordable Housing] Long-Term Strategy
November 29, 2010
Families in need of affordable housing will soon have access to a more flexible, coordinated and supportive system that is focused on people first. Ontario's Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy will address the unique needs of individuals and communities by building a strong foundation that is based on four key pillars: putting people first, creating strong partnerships, supporting affordable options and accountability.

Ontario's Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy Document
Safe and affordable housing is fundamental for Ontarians striving to build a strong future for their families and their communities.
HTML version - 20 pages of text all on one long page
PDF version (1MB, 20 pages) more printer-friendly

Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy
Building Foundations: Building Futures
The Ontario government’s long-term housing strategy makes it easier for Ontario families to find and maintain affordable housing.
- Click the above link to access the following:
* What people are saying about Building Foundations: Building Futures
* Ontario's Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy: An Overview
* Local Plans and Accountability
* Consolidating Housing and Homeless Programs
* Simplifying Rent-Geared-To-Income Rules
* Frequently Asked Questions:
- What Does the Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy Mean to:
---------- Ontario Families and Individuals?
---------- Municipalities and Service Managers?
----------Non-Profit and Co-operative Housing Providers?
Source:
Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

----------------------

Related links:

From Michael Shapcott in
the Wellesley Institute Blog:

Scaffolding up, but lots of work still needed before Ontario finishes building its housing plan
November 29, 2010
The Ontario government has put up the scaffolding for a long-term affordable housing strategy, but there’s plenty of unfinished business for Queen’s Park as it seeks to build a truly comprehensive plan to ensure everyone has access to a healthy, affordable home. There are no targets, timelines and no new housing investments. After six months of consultations, more than 1,000 detailed submissions and a year of writing, Ontario housing minister Rick Bartolucci released the much-needed and long-overdue plan earlier today.

The Wellesley Institute’s backgrounder (PDF - 235K, 6 pages) provides details of what’s in, and what’s missing, from today’s announcement, and it also includes an assessment of how the draft plan measures up to the five tests set by the Housing Network of Ontario.

Housing Checklist – How does Ontario’s Long Term Housing Strategy measure up?
November 29, 2010
As the provincial government releases their plan for affordable housing, we thought it might be helpful to share a checklist to track whether or not the Long Term Affordable Housing Strategy measures up.

Source:
The Wellesley Institute
The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through rigorous community-based research, reciprocal capacity building, and the informing of public policy.

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From
stableandaffordable.com:

Ontario's proposed affordable housing plan fails to meet five basic tests set by Housing Network of Ontario
November 30
The Ontario government released its much anticipated Long-term Affordable Housing Strategy today, but the document failed to provide a plan that meets all five basic tests set out by the Housing Network of Ontario and its almost 500 supporters across the province.

stableandaffordable.com
... is an initiative of the Wellesley Institute and many partners across Ontario. Here, you’ll find plenty of facts and figures about housing in Ontario, along with stories from people around the province, and tips for actions that you can take to ensure everyone in Ontario has a stable and affordable home.

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From the
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA):

ONPHA Comments on Housing Strategy
Strategy recognizes importance of community-based housing for Ontario’s future (PDF - 111K, 2 pages)
Hamilton, ON
November 29, 2010
The Province released it's [sic] highly anticipated Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy today accompanied by housing and community sector stakeholders, including the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA).

Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
For over 20 years, ONPHA has been the voice of non-profit housing in Ontario. ONPHA unites over 760 non-profit organizations providing housing in 220 communities across Ontario. Our members include municipal and private non-profits of all sizes, with all types of funding. ONPHA is the recognized voice of Ontario's non-profit housing at the municipal, provincial and federal levels

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From the
Toronto Star:

Ontario housing strategy: Won’t reduce long wait lists
November 30 2010
Claiming it needed “the time to get it right,” the Liberal government at Queen’s Park long delayed releasing a long-term affordable housing strategy. That’s what makes what was released Monday – three years after it was first promised in the 2007 election campaign – all the more disappointing.The housing strategy is little more than a series of regulatory changes that reduce red tape, simplify convoluted rules and provide municipalities more flexibility to cater to local needs.
(...)
One change (calculating income annually, instead of monthly) will be helpful to low-income households lucky enough to already live in subsidized housing and to raise their income levels through paid work. Under the new rules, their rent would not go up for a year. The strategy is called “Building Foundations: Building Futures,” but it does not propose actually building any new housing. Nor does it fund any new rent subsidies to help people afford existing apartments. That means it does next to nothing for the 142,000 low-income families in Ontario on waiting lists of up to 20 years for subsidized housing.
Source:
Toronto Star

- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.htm

Bad housing as unhealthy as no housing: study
400,000 live in housing that is unsafe, crowded or costs more than 50% of income
November 19, 2010
People living in extremely poor housing conditions face the same health risks as those who are homeless, a study by researchers at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital suggests. The report, Housing Vulnerability and Health: Canada's Hidden Emergency, revealed that for every person in Canada who is homeless, another 23 live in housing that is unsafe, crowded or costs more than 50 per cent of their income.
Source:
CBC News

Complete report:

Housing Vulnerability and Health: Canada's Hidden Emergency
A report on the REACH3 Health and Housing in Transition study (PDF - 355K, 12 pages)
November 2010

Key findings: People who don’t have a healthy place to live - regardless of whether they’re vulnerably housed or homeless - are at high risk of serious physical and mental health problems and major problems accessing the health care they need. Many end up hospitalized or in the emergency department. 40 per cent of people who don’t have a healthy place to live have been assaulted at least once in the past year, and one in three have trouble getting enough to eat.

Key recommendations: We’re calling for the federal government to respond by setting national housing standards that ensure universal, timely access to healthy (i.e. decent, stable, and affordable) housing.

Research Team:
Research Alliance for Canadian Homelessness, Housing, and Health (REACH3)

Source:
Keenan Research Centre
[ St. Michael's Hospital ]

Canada inching closer to national housing plan as Commons’ vote looms
November 12, 2010
Canada is inching closer to a long overdue and much-needed national affordable housing plan. Bill C-304, draft legislation to create a national plan that was proposed by Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East, is back for the second round of debate on third reading on Nov. 18. Then the Commons is scheduled to vote on Nov. 24. The Wellesley Institute’s Precarious Housing in Canada 2010 sets out the need, and the framework, for a national housing plan. At second reading, the national housing bill passed on a vote of 148 to 137, including support from the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Quebecois. The Bloc is seeking another amendment to the bill, so the vote on Nov. 24 will likely be to send C-304 back to committee, and then do a quick turn-around and back onto the floor of the Commons for a final vote. Advocates hope that the bill will get third and final reading vote before the House rises for the holidays on Dec. 17.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
The Wellesley Institute is a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute. Our focus is on developing research and community-based policy solutions to the problems of urban health and health disparities.

Pause for reflection:

Million-Dollar Murray:
Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage
February 13, 2006
"(...) Murray Barr used more health-care dollars than almost anyone in the state of Nevada. It would probably have been cheaper to give him a full-time nurse and his own apartment."
The cost of chronic homelessness in America, and Philip Mangano's solution.
Source:
Gladwell.com

Related link:

“Zero Dollar Linda“ : A Meditation on Malcolm Gladwell’s “Million Dollar Murray,“
the Linda Chamberlain Rule, and the Auditor General of Ontario (PDF - 225K, 28 pages)
By John Stapleton
November 2010
(...) I believe we need to create a space in the public conversation to talk about building social assistance policies based on trust in the majority, not suspicion of a minority of outliers. We need intelligent rules, administered with positive discretion, by public servants who are educated and supported in this approach.
Source:
Metcalf Foundation
The Metcalf Foundation helps Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society by supporting dynamic leaders who are strengthening their communities, nurturing innovative approaches to persistent problems, and
encouraging dialogue and learning to inform action.

Open Policy - John Stapleton's website
TIP: Check out John's Publications - Media Commentaries - Presentations

Housing Again Bulletin - November 2010 issue
A monthly electronic bulletin highlighting what people are doing to put housing back on the public agenda in Ontario, across Canada and around the world.
Feature:
* The Road to a National Housing Plan
Community Spotlight:
* Ottawa Youth Services Bureau : Supporting Youth in Making Positive Lifestyle Decisions
News Briefs:
* More Supportive Housing Choices for Youth in NL
* Niagara Releases New Report on Youth Homelessness
* Corporate Canada Continues to Invest in Solutions to Youth Homelessness
[ Sign up to receive this bulletin by email ]
Source:
Raising the Roof
Raising the Roof is Canada's only national charity dedicated to long-term solutions to homelessness. We work nationally, regionally and locally to bring about lasting solutions to homelessness

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Shared Learnings on Homelessness
Developed by Raising the Roof, this site makes practical tools and information accessible to the frontline staff, managers and volunteers within the hundreds of organizations across Canada working to address the problem of homelessness in their communities

News for October, 2010
A monthly electronic bulletin from Shared Learnings highlighting what people are doing to put housing back on the public agenda across Canada.
Current articles include:
Feature: October Days of Action in Support of Affordable Housing
Community Spotlight: Second Base Youth Shelter Runner Up for Eva’s Innovation Award Applications Available for 2011
Newsbriefs: Federal Housing Funds Confirmed Until 2014
Street-Involved Youth Vulnerable to Criminal Victimization
[ Sign up to receive this bulletin by email ]
NOTE : In the right-hand margin of the October bulletin, you'll find links to monthly bulletins back to September 2002

Homelessness Conference : The Road Home (Edmonton, November 15-17, 2010)
The Seven Cities of Alberta are hosting The Road Home conference on homelessness at the Ramada Inn and Conference Centre (11834 Kingsway Ave) in Edmonton, Alberta. The conference will feature presentations and panel discussions with experts working to end homelessness, and in related services.

During the morning of November 17, delegates will discuss the idea of a national housing plan, and whether Canada needs a national organization, or voice, on homelessness.

Conference Registration

Conference Agenda:
HTML version
PDF version (PDF - 173K, 16 pages)

Source:
Homeward Trust Edmonton
Homeward Trust is a community-based, comprehensive housing organization that provides leadership and resources towards ending homelessness in Edmonton.

Related link:

Alberta’s Seven Cities Partnership (PDF - 74K, 5 pages)
By Scott Cameron and Anne Makhoul
March 2009
Since forming in 2001, Alberta’s Seven Cities partnership has created a solid base of relationships, produced evidence for change, identified causes and solutions to the problem of homelessness, and influenced policies and practices across government departments and jurisdictions
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

2011 budget can accomplish more for housing without increasing spending
Media release
October 25, 2010 (Ottawa) – The federal government can make better use of taxpayers’ dollars in the 2011 budget without increasing spending by adopting practical policy measures to address the lack of affordable housing options for low-income Canadians in housing need, said Nicholas Gazzard, Executive Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada).
Source:
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada)
CHF Canada is the national voice of the Canadian co-operative housing movement. Its members include over 900 non-profit housing co-operatives and other organizations across Canada. More than a quarter of a million Canadians live in housing co-ops, in every province and territory.

October 21, 2010
Great news: National housing act bill (C-304) moves big step closer to law
By Michael Shapcott
Great news!
Third reading debate on Bill C-304 - draft legislation to create a national housing plan for Canada – started on Wednesday evening in Parliament, and three of the four political parties in the Commons have pledged their support. Vancouver East MP Libby Davies, sponsor of the bill, told her fellow MPs: “This bill is very straightforward and clear. It calls on the federal government, in partnership with the provinces, the territories, first nations, municipalities and stakeholders, to develop a strategy that could take us forward and move us into a situation where we have a real plan with objectives, targets, outcomes, and deliverables. That is why so many people have signed on in support of this bill.”
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog

Related link:

October 14, 2010
A Message from
Rob Rainer, Executive Director
CWP Advocacy Network:

SUBJECT:
Oct 19: Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy; Oct 20 'fireside chat' on a federal housing strategy

1) From the east to west coasts, Red Tents will be popping open on October 19th for the Red Tent Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy. This Day of Action takes place one day before scheduled debate, at Third Reading in the House of Commons, of Bill C-304 (An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians). The Day of Action calls for full parliamentary support of the Bill which, if passed into law, would mandate the federal government to develop a national housing strategy, in consultation with key stakeholders and appropriately rooted in a human rights framework.

The CWP Advocacy Network supports the Red Tents Campaign and, with partners such as Pivot Legal Society, ACORN CANADA , the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness and Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain , is co-organizing the Day of Action in Ottawa on October 19th. Solidarity actions are being held in Halifax (Oct 16), London, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria – with Red Tents on hand to demand full parliamentary support (House and Senate) for Bill C-304.

The Day of Action in Ottawa will include a 9:30am press conference on Parliament Hill, followed by a rally on the Hill at 10:00am and additional rally at the Human Rights Monument (Elgin and Lisgar). Volunteers are needed to help with the opening and carrying of 100 Red Tents – for a striking visual representation of the homelessness crisis in Canada, a crisis literally at the doorstep of our parliamentarians. Those in the Ottawa area who can help with the rally – please contact our office (613-789-0115) or info@cwp-csp.ca

2) On October 20, 1:00-2:00pm Eastern, the Population Health Improvement Research Network at the University of Ottawa is holding a cross-Canada “fireside chat” on a federal housing strategy. “Fireside Chats are pan-Canadian discussions via telephone/Internet for population health professionals - and stakeholders.” Wednesday’s chat will feature several housing experts including Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute.
To register, go to http://www.chnet-works.ca/

3) Precarious Housing in Canada (2010) is a powerful, new research and policy report from the Wellesley Institute. Using the most comprehensive and current data, research and analysis, Precarious Housing sets out a pragmatic, five-point plan targeted to the millions of Canadians who are living in substandard, over-crowded and unaffordable homes – plus those who are living without any housing at all. Housing is one of the most important factors for a healthy life.

Source:
CWP Advocacy Network
[ Canada Without Poverty - CWP ]

Pause for reflection:

Million-Dollar Murray:
Why problems like homelessness may be easier to solve than to manage
February 13, 2006
"(...) Murray Barr used more health-care dollars than almost anyone in the state of Nevada. It would probably have been cheaper to give him a full-time nurse and his own apartment."
The cost of chronic homelessness in America, and Philip Mangano's solution.
Source:
Gladwell.com

Related link:

“Zero Dollar Linda“ : A Meditation on Malcolm Gladwell’s “Million Dollar Murray,“
the Linda Chamberlain Rule, and the Auditor General of Ontario (PDF - 225K, 28 pages)
By John Stapleton
November 2010
(...) I believe we need to create a space in the public conversation to talk about building social assistance policies based on trust in the majority, not suspicion of a minority of outliers. We need intelligent rules, administered with positive discretion, by public servants who are educated and supported in this approach.
Source:
Metcalf Foundation
The Metcalf Foundation helps Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society by supporting dynamic leaders who are strengthening their communities, nurturing innovative approaches to persistent problems, and
encouraging dialogue and learning to inform action.

Open Policy - John Stapleton's website
TIP: Check out John's Publications - Media Commentaries - Presentations

Government Links

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is Canada’s national housing agency. Established as a government-owned corporation in 1946 to address Canada’s post-war housing shortage, the agency has grown into a major national institution. CMHC is Canada’s premier provider of mortgage loan insurance, mortgage-backed securities, housing policy and programs, and housing research

Site map - on one page, everything that's on this enormous website...

Canada's Economic Action Plan:
Housing Support for Canadians and Communities
Canada's Economic Action Plan 2009 announced a number of housing-related measures which are being delivered through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. These measures are intended to create employment through timely and targeted investments to build new and renovate existing social housing, and fund housing-related infrastructure.
* Helping Municipalities Build Stronger Communities
* Support for Seniors, Persons With Disabilities, and Northern Housing
* Renovation and Retrofit of Existing Social Housing Administered by CMHC
* On-Reserve Housing

CMHC Research Report Listings by Subject
- links to PDF files consisting of collections of reports that you can order from CMHC organized by subject, including Affordable Housing - Cooperative Housing - Healthy Housing - Homeless - Housing and Women - Housing for Older Canadians - Housing for Persons with Disabilities - Housing Rehabilitation - Self-Help Housing - Social Housing - more...

Statistics and Data
CMHC's annual reports and monthly updates contain current and historical data on housing in Canada – new construction, new home prices and sales, rental statistics and the demographics of housing demand.

Selected datasets:
[Click the link above to access the datasets below or to see the whole collection.]

* Preliminary Housing Start Data : Up-to-date statistics on housing starts in Canada.
* Housing Information Monthly : Statistical tables on starts, completions, sales and prices in provincial and local markets.
* Monthly Housing Statistics : Housing starts, completions and expenditures.
* Canadian Housing Statistics : Sourcebook of Canadian housing statistics.
* Rental Market Report — Canada and Provincial Highlights : Overview of CMHC's Fall and Spring Rental Market Surveys results.
* Rental Market Statistics : Tables and data on vacancy, availability and rent data for privately-initiated structures.
* Rental Market Reports — Major Centres : Fall Rental Market Survey results. Detailed statistics, in-depth analysis, and forecasts.
* Seniors' Housing Report and Supplementary Tables : Additional statistics of the seniors' housing market.
* Time Series Data : Data on starts, under construction, completions, newly-completed and unoccupied, vacancy rates, and mortgage loan approval activity.

Canadian Housing Observer 2012 (PDF - 5.8MB, 132 pages)
The Canadian Housing Observer provides an in-depth review of housing conditions and trends in Canada, and describes the key factors that influence these developments. The report discusses housing finance and markets, demographic and socio-economic influences on housing demand, housing affordability and core housing need, and sustainable housing and communities. It includes national coverage and provincial/territorial and metropolitan detail. The report is complemented by a suite of on-line data resources and tools which include data down to the local level.
[ Earlier editions of the Canadian Housing Observer ]

Rental Market Survey
Tables for Major Centres / Provinces provide detailed data for each market area. Tables contain data on availability rates, average rents or vacancies, by bedroom size (bachelor, one, two bedroom units, etc.) and by building type (i.e. row homes and apartments).
- click the red "Download Now" button to access the latest issue of the Rental Market Survey.
(The PDF file for 2012 is 1.4MB, 11 pages)

Links to Provincial and Territorial Affordable Housing Websites, Agreements and Public Reporting
Bilateral agreements are in place between CMHC and all provinces and territories for the Investment in Affordable Housing Framework 2011 – 14. Most provinces and territories have entered into new bilateral agreements under the Investment in Affordable Housing (IAH). PEI and Yukon have decided to extend the existing delivery arrangements for the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) and CMHC-delivered renovation programs. Under the new bilateral agreements for the IAH, provinces and territories will report publicly on outcomes of the investment using agreed-upon indicators.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Housing
* On First Nations
* Off First Nations
* Northern Housing

CMHC for Consumers --- incl. links to : Buying a Home * Mortgage Loan Insurance * Renting a Home * Maintaining a Home * Renovating a Home * Programs & Financial Assistance (residential rehabilitation, emergency repair, home adaptation for seniors, etc.)

CMHC for Housing Industry Professionals and Community Groups --- CMHC contributes to the well-being of the housing sector by offering : Best practices in housing construction and design * Housing market trends and demographics * A wide variety of programs & financial assistance * Affordable housing strategies.

***********************************************************************

Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI)
Under the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI), the federal government, through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, provides contributions to increase the supply of off- reserve affordable housing, in partnership with provinces and territories. In September 2008, the Government of Canada announced $1.9 billion, over five years, for housing and homelessness programs for low-income Canadians. As part of this investment, the AHI was extended for two years, until March 31, 2011. This investment builds on the $1 billion funding commitment under Phase I and II of the initiative. Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides a further one-time investment of $1.525 billion in housing stimulus measures to build new and renovate existing social housing. This funding is being delivered through amendments to existing cost-sharing and delivery arrangements with provinces and territories through the AHI.

* Affordable Housing Initiative — Background
Through the AHI, the federal government, through CMHC, provides contributions to increase the supply of off- reserve affordable housing, in partnership with provinces and territories.

* National AHI Funding Table
Funding allocations and commitments (dollars and number of units) made under the AHI, updated quarterly.

* CMHC News Releases on Official AHI Project Openings
Search CMHC News Releases on official AHI project openings through a new, user friendly search tool.

* Provincial and Territorial Links
Links to provincial and territorial housing authorities

NOTE:
Funding for the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI), the housing renovation programs, including the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP), and the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) were set to expire on March 31, 2009. On September 4, 2008, the Government of Canada decided to set aside funding for housing and homelessness programs at $387.9 million per year for five years to March 31, 2014.
Source:
Backgrounder : Housing and Homelessness
(Human Resources and Skills Development Canada)

Homelessness Partnering Secretariat
Addressing homelessness is a challenge in all regions across Canada. The Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) is a community-based program that relies on communities to determine their own needs and to develop appropriate projects.
The HPS works to prevent and reduce homelessness across Canada through:
* investments in transitional and supportive housing through a housing-first approach;
* support to community-based efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness;
* partnerships between the federal government, provinces, and territories; and
* collaboration with other federal departments and agencies.
The HPS has seven funding components:

* Designated Communities
* Outreach Communities
* Aboriginal Communities
* Federal Horizontal Pilot Projects
* Homelessness Knowledge Development
* Homelessness Individuals and Families Information System
* Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative

Statistics Canada

Families, households and housing
Data and studies on households and housing as well as census families and economic families.
Subtopics:
* Families, households and housing (general)
* Divorce and separation
* Family history
* Family types
* Household characteristics
* Housing and dwelling characteristics
* Living arrangements of individuals
*Marriage and common-law unions

Homelessness
Economics Division
Parliamentary Research Branch
Parliament of Canada
January 1999
Thirty-eight pages of information on homelessness in Canada - definitions, types of homelessness, counting the homelessness, composition of the homeless population, homelessness and health, an international perspective, and much more...
Source:
Parliamentary Internet

CitizenSHIFT
"We are an independent, socially active, and nationally representative web magazine, that gives activists, organizations, and socially conscious media producers a forum for watching, listening, reading, and interacting with the issues that Canadians are dealing with, that may not have representation in the mainstream media. Our mission is to give a place for the voices of those that are less heard, or ignored, who do not have the chance to represent themselves in the media. CitizenSHIFT is a valuable tool for organizations and individuals to have their issues talked about, and utilizing all the forums that multimedia interaction can offer.
Our content is dictated by the submissions that we receive, but there are often shared themes between groups and media makers. Currently we are showcasing different activist artists’ work and perspectives on poverty and homelessness in the different chapters of the web magazine. In the chapter, REEL COMMUNITY – the film and its filmmakers of “Hide and Go Homeless” are featured, telling their rigorous journey to get their film finished against all odds. In REBELS WITH A CAUSE – CitizenSHIFT features Craig Chivers, a photosensitive artist whose activism through photography is showcased, along with interviews with Craig."
Source:
National Film Board

Women Need Safe, Stable, Affordable Housing: A study of social, private and co-op housing in Winnipeg
By M. McCracken and G. Watson
February 2004
"(...) The housing crisis in Canada has been linked to the federal government's withdrawal from housing in the 1990s. The proportion of female-headed renter households paying 30% or more of their household income on housing increased from 38% to 47% between 1980 and 1995, and female-headed households comprise 45% of Canadian households with core housing need. As a result of the withdrawal of federal funding, there has been no expansion of social housing in Manitoba and a decrease in the total number of low-income rental units. (...) As a response to the housing shortage, the federal government became involved in housing again in 2003. The federal and provincial governments developed the Affordable Housing initiative (AHI). They have earmarked $50 million dollars for housing programs in Manitoba; the City of Winnipeg has put forward $17.5 million dollars.
Executive Summary
Complete report (PDF file - 840K, 50 pages)

Source:
Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence

From the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation:

National Housing Day
Affordable housing helps to make our communities better places to live, work and grow. On National Housing Day, November 22, CMHC celebrates the affordable housing initiatives that are making a difference in people's lives.

Related links:

Housing Again

Shared Learnings on Homelessness

Raising the Roof

Understanding Eviction

Highlights Report - Cycles of Homelessness:
Understanding Eviction Prevention and its Relation to Homelessness (PDF file - 1.15MB, 16 pages)
March 2006
- highlights of a report produced as a result of a year-long study on eviction prevention in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Halifax. Titled "Cycles of Homelessness", the study was commissioned by the National Homelessness Initiative, and it complements an earlier study, "Cost Effectiveness of Eviction Prevention Programs", which was funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
- To obtain a copy of the complete report, to receive more information on the study, to provide further comment, or to arrange a presentation or dialogue on research findings, please contact Kate Murray of Acacia Consulting & Research: [ kate@acaciaconsulting.ca ]
NOTE: I found this highlights report in the Housing and Homelessness Research section of the Quality of Life Reporting System, which is part of Housing and Homelessness in HRM, which is part of Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia. Explore each of the links below for some interesting tidbits and useful homelessness resources in Halifax and in Canada.
Source:
Housing and Homelessness Research
- part of Quality of Life Reporting System
- part of Housing and Homelessness in Halifax Regional Municipality
- part of Halifax Regional Municipality

Non-Government Links

The Homeless Hub
Mission : to provide a single online tool for homelessness stakeholders from across Canada to use, to find the research, strategy and policy information they need to make informed decisions when creating effective solutions. (...) As a one-stop-shop, the Homeless Hub is a place where community services providers, researchers, government representatives, people who have experienced homelessness and the general public can access and share research, stories, and best practices.(...)
* Search or browse the library, experiences, resources and Hub Network areas to get the information and contacts you need.
* Share your knowledge by submitting your documents or citations of works, and permit us to include them in our library
* Join the Hub Network and allow us to make your core contact information visible for other stakeholders to contact you for collaboration purposes
[Based on a partnership between York University, the Government of Canada and a range of community partners from across the country]
Selected site content:
Should we give money to panhandlers?
http://www.homelesshub.ca/researchmatters/post/2010/07/22/Should-we-give-money-to-panhandlers.aspx
by Stephen Gaetz
July 22, 2010
The Government of Alberta has announced its intention to put forward a plan that encourages people to refrain from giving money to panhandlers, and instead to give those resources to agencies serving people who are homeless.
Source:
The Homeless Hub
http://www.homelesshub.ca/
[Gilles' comment: That's tokenism --- like Ottawa's millionaire mayor Larry O'Brien converting a few obsolete parking meters into - get this - "Kindness Meters. " According to anecdotal reports, any money that's ever been collected from the meters is routinely deposited into the City's general revenue account vs being earmarked for services for street people.]
Related link:
Reasons the Ottawa Kindness Meters were a Bad Idea
http://www.knitnut.net/2007/12/kindness-meters/
Source:
ZOOM
[ http://www.knitnut.net ]
---
Pandemic Planning and Homelessness Research Network
As an extension of the Homeless Hub, this network allows people who are interested in homelessness and pandemic planning to come together in a collaborative on-line environment. This dynamic website features a library of resources and documents from governments and community agencies that can be accessed from one user-friendly site. Researchers, service providers, government officials and others are invited to share information and documents, participate in discussion forums, and collaborate on strategies to minimize the likelihood and impact of the spread of infectious disease among people who are homeless. To join, simply visit http://homelesshub.apps01.yorku.ca/network/cphrt, register and request membership. Once your membership has been confirmed, you will gain access to a large collection of pandemic plans, community documents, research articles, guides and best practices, and news articles from Canada and around the world.
For further information please contact Kristy Buccieri at kristy_buccieri@edu.yorku.ca
Source:
The Homeless Hub
[ www.homelesshub.net/ ]
This site is a supplement to the www.homelesshub.ca site and encourage as much online collaboration, networking and information-sharing among stakeholders doing work on homelessness and poverty-related issues as possible.

The Wellesley Institute
The Wellesley Institute is a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute. Our focus is on developing research and community-based policy solutions to the problems of urban health and health disparities.
Selected postings to the Wellesley Institute Blog:
[ part of The Wellesley Institute ]
Precarious Housing in Canada 2010
August 16, 2010
Precarious Housing in Canada (2010) is a powerful, new research and policy report from the Wellesley Institute. Using the most comprehensive and current data, research and analysis, Precarious Housing sets out a pragmatic, five-point plan targeted to the millions of Canadians who are living in substandard, over-crowded and unaffordable homes – plus those who are living without any housing at all. Housing is one of the most important factors for a healthy life. (...) Federal housing and homelessness investments – adjusted for inflation and population growth – have been shrinking over the past two decades; and, while the federal government announces short-term initiatives from time to time, Canada still doesn’t have a comprehensive, fully-funded and integrated national housing strategy.
Complete report (PDF - 4.4MB, 100 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF - 737K, 9 pages)
Part One: Framing the challenge (PDF - 3.2MB, 49 pages)
Part Two: Vision 2020, toward a national housing plan (PDF - 2.2MB, 40 pages)
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Canadians, especially women,
caught in time crunch between work, family, personal needs
By Michael Shapcott
June 15, 2010
Canadians, especially women, are caught in a time crunch and the trend has been getting worse over the past 15 years, says a new report by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW), Caught in the Time Crunch: Time Use, Leisure and Culture in Canada.
- includes highlights of the report
The report:
Caught in the Time Crunch: Time Use, Leisure and Culture in Canada (PDF - 1.3MB, 38 pages)
June 15, 2010
This report that follows presents a summary and highlights of research studies in two inter-related quality of life categories:
• Time Use; and
• Leisure and Culture.
Source:
Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW)
The CIW provides unique insights into the quality of life of Canadians – overall, and in specific areas that matter: our standard of living, our health, the quality of our environment, our education and skill levels, the way we use our time, the vitality of our communities, our participation in the democratic process, and the state of our leisure and culture.
[ Other CIW Reports ]
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U.S. set to unveil national strategic plan
to end homelessness as Canada dithers
By Michael Shapcott
June 15, 2010
On June 22 (2010), the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness will unveil Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. (...) This national homelessness plan is the latest in a series of housing and homelessness policies from the Obama administration that includes $1 billion to capitalize the US National Housing Trust Fund. (...) Meanwhile, in Canada, legislation to create a national housing plan (Bill C-304) is stalled in the Commons ...[a]nd Ontario has just announced that it is pushing back the date of the launch of its provincial housing plan until the fall after promising that the plan would be released in the spring of 2010.
Related links:
* U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
* U.S. National Housing Trust Fund
* U.S. National Alliance to End Homelessness
* Bill C-304 (Canadian national housing plan)
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Ontario delays launch of provincial affordable housing strategy
By Michael Shapcott
June 15, 2010
The Ontario government promised last year, during its six-month province-wide consultation, that it would release its Long-term Affordable Housing Strategy by the spring of 2010. With just days remaining until the end of spring, a senior official in the office of the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has confirmed that the the province will miss its own deadline.
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Latest CMHC numbers confirm low,
moderate-income renters priced out of private rental markets
By Michael Shapcott
June 15, 2010
Low and moderate-income households continue to be priced out of Canada’s private rental markets as average rents continue their relentless two-decade rise many times faster than renter household incomes, according to the latest figures released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Canada’s national housing agency. Research from the Wellesley Institute and others draws a clear set of links between good quality, affordable housing and good health.
Rental Market Report (PDF - 371K, 8 pages)
Spring 2010
Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
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Ontario's 'affordable' homes aren't affordable to those who need them the most: New report from auditor-general
December 7, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
More than half the new "affordable" housing funded by the Ontario government isn't really affordable to the households that need it the most. That's one of the devastating findings in the Ontario auditor-general's latest annual report, released today. "A provincial strategy is needed to define the Ministry [of Municipal Affairs and Housing's] roles, set measurable goals and program priorities, assess risks and options to manage the risks, determine the resources required, and measure the impact of the Ministry's contribution to social housing," urges the auditor-general - echoing the concerns and recommendations made by the Wellesley Institute (PDF - 396K, 7 pages), and many other partners in the Housing Network of Ontario to the Ontario government's consultation for a long-term housing strategy.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]
Related link:
2009 Annual Report:
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario
December 7, 2009
Complete report:
PDF version - 6MB, 494 pages
HTML version <=== table of contents with PDF links to 39 individual files (one per section); only the link to the social housing section appears below.
* Social Housing (PDF - 268K)
[ Related News Release (PDF - 131K, 1 page)]
[ All 17 news releases about this annual report ]
Source:
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario
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Reality check: Ontario gives housing dollars with one hand, takes away with other
November 16, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Reality check: Ontario is indeed matching the 2009 federal affordable housing investments, as housing minister Jim Watson notes in a story in today's Toronto Star (“Nearly homeless struggle to hang on"), but the province has also been steadily cutting spending at the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing since 2005. Finance minister Dwight Duncan, in his October 22 fall economic update, (PDF - 1.7MB, 94 pages) reports spending at the housing ministry was $926 million in 2005 and is projected to be $703.9 million in 2009. That’s a cumulative cut of $657 in the past four years – which more than offsets the $585.3 million that the finance minister says the province will spend this year to match the federal housing dollars.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]
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Parliament should pass Bill C-304; Canada urgently needs national housing plan
November 5, 2009
The time is right for Parliament to pass Bill C-304, which directs the federal housing minister to consult widely and develop a national affordable housing plan within 180 days. The Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott offered expert testimony at the Commons HUMA committee on Nov. 5 on the four key reasons for a comprehensive national housing framework.
Michael Shapcott's speaking notes (PDF - 237K, 4 pages)
November 5, 2009
Related links:
* Exciting news: Bill to create national housing plan passes second reading in House of Commons today (September 30, 2009)
* Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians
* Libby Davies, NDP Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
* Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) Committee
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News from national housing summit:
Ministers give themselves a collective pat on the back as millions suffer in poor homes
December 4, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The official communiqué from the federal provincial and territorial housing ministers is little more than a collective pat on the back. The Ministers met Friday, December 4, in Gatineau for their first national housing summit since 2005. With a record 1.5 million Canadian households in core housing need, and another two million living in substandard housing, the comments about “significant progress” and “good progress” seem to fall short of the reality.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]
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Communities Speak
A summary of the 2009 [Ontario] Provincial Housing Consultations (PDF - 653K, 15 pages)
November 2009
[ version française :
Les communautés parlent
Un résumé des consultations du logement de l’Ontario 2009 (PDF - 674Ko, 16 pages) ]
This Housing Network of Ontario report consolidates recommendations made by many hundreds of Ontarians who participated in almost 40 community meetings and consultations focussed on developing an affordable housing strategy, held from June to November 2009. The meetings included government-led consultations, convened by Minister Jim Watson and/or MPPs from ridings across the province. Meetings also included community-led forums with MPPs invited to participate, and public town hall meetings.
The main messages that emerged from these consultations included:
* Ontarians need a comprehensive, fully-funded long-term affordable housing strategy with bold targets.
* Housing insecurity, homelessness and poverty are inseparably linked.
* People with lived experience of housing insecurity and housing related poverty should be at the centre of any housing strategy.
Source:
Stableandaffordable.com
Stableandaffordable.com is an initiative of the Wellesley Institute and the Housing Network of Ontario.
We are a network of organizations dedicated to one goal: stable and affordable housing for all Canadians.
------------------------------------
Help build a housing and homelessness map of Canada!
Share your local housing and homelessness stories
July 3, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Canada urgently needs a national housing plan – millions of Canadians are calling for one, and the United Nations has added its voice. The best national housing plan is built from the community up – a plan that identifies local housing and homelessness needs across the country, and pinpoints effective local housing and homeless initiatives that deserve support. (...) You can help build a national housing and homelessness plan from the community up by helping to build a national housing and homelessness map of Canada.(...)
[NOTE : click the link above to read the complete blog entry
for more detailed instructions on how to post information at the link below.]
Local Housing Initiatives Across Canada (Canadian Housing E-Map)
- part of the Wellesley Institute's state of the nation's housing 2009 initiative
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
The Wellesley Institute is a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute. Our focus is on developing research and community-based policy solutions to the problems of urban health and health disparities.
NOTE: You'll see links to many other Wellesley Institute blog entries elsewhere on this page because I've intentionally placed some blog entries right next to the reports from government other NGOs that they are critiquing or highlighting.

RONZIG
Down But Not Out
Digital Photo Artist and social activist, ex homeless addict in Toronto explores people and places from a unique perspective emphasizing the lifestyle of those forgotten members of our society whose suffering has been neglected for too long and compares their circumstances with the accepted norm. His art, photography and commentary provide an exceptional opportunity to understand social trends in Toronto at the outset of the 21st century.
- incl. links to:
* What it means to be homeless * Poverty is the Primary Cause of Homelessness * The Political Scene * War * Death and Disease * Drugs Addiction * Society * Chat with Ronzig * Public Speaking * Videos * Contact-and-links * Our Best Hope * Events * Media
NOTE: The images that appear on the pages of the above site are, in the words of the artist, "...a multimedia merging of photography, computer manipulation and acrylic painting producing unique artwork". If you're impressed as I was with the originality and beauty of Ronzig's photographic art, the link below will take you to a whole collection of similar work by the same artist.
Ronzig's Photographic Art Portfolio - incl. links if you wish to order prints
["My Best Work" - samples of Ronzig's photos]
[ Ronzig's Facebook page ]
---
Videos by Ronzig about homelessness & related issues
- incl. links to a collection of YouTube videos created by Ronzig for the Recession Relief Coalition covering public forums rallies, protests and media release meetings. Recession Relief Coalition videos that are longer than the YouTube 10 minute limit are on the Vimeo multi player just below the YouTube player and below that is a second YouTube multi player with all of Ronzig's YouTube videos on it.

The rest of the NGO links are in reverse chronological order, for the most part...)

Rallies across Quebec call for more federal funding for homeless
By Jan Ravensbergen
September 10, 2010
Advocacy groups rallied in five locations across Quebec yesterday to punctuate a push to more than double annual federal funding to combat homelessness in the province. Ottawa should boost the allocation of federal cash for such housing and other assistance to more than $50 million a year, Benoit Poirier, coordinator of the Reseau Solidarite Itinerance du Quebec, said after 300 boisterous demonstrators issued the Montreal component of the message outside federal offices in the downtown Guy Favreau Complex. (...) The most recent Quebec census of the homeless -conducted 13 years ago, in 1997 -pegged the figure for Montreal and Quebec City at 28,000 in total.

Source:
Montreal Gazette

Related link:

Homelessness resources in Quebec - from Homeless Nation [ "... the only website in the world created by and for the street community." ]

---------------------------

Homelessness in Canada:
Interview with Penny Goldsmith of PovNet
June 2010
Transcript of the interview (HTML)
Video
Penny Goldsmith is the Executive Coordinator of PovNET in Vancouver, BC. PovNet provides online tools that facilitate communication, community and access to information around poverty-related issues in British Columbia and Canada. They work to collect relevant news and resources of use to advocates, community workers, marginalized communities and the general public.
Source:
The Homeless Hub
Building on the success of the Canadian Conference on Homelessness (2005), the Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada. Launched in 2007, the Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information center representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking.

Related links:

PovNet
PovNet provides online tools that facilitate communication, community and access to information around poverty-related issues in British Columbia and Canada. We work to collect relevant news and resources of use to advocates, community workers, marginalized communities and the general public.

---------------------------

Report Highlights Urgent Affordable Housing Need
Ontario needs bold strategy to help households in need
Ontario Region media release
May 31, 2010
(Toronto) While the economic situation in Ontario may be improving, low and modest income households across the province still struggle to access the most crucial and basic aspect of economic and personal success – a safe and affordable home. The 2010 edition of Where’s Home? authored by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada Ontario Region (CHF Canada's Ontario Region), analyzes 22 separate housing markets across Ontario and highlights the urgent need for more affordable rental housing.

Complete report:

Where’s HOME : A study of affordable rental
housing within 22 communities in Ontario (PDF - 2MB, 69 pages)
May 2010
Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
For over 20 years, ONPHA has been the voice of non-profit housing in Ontario. ONPHA unites over 760 non-profit organizations providing housing in 220 communities across Ontario. Our members include municipal and private non-profits of all sizes, with all types of funding.

Related links:

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
ACTO works to better the housing situation of Ontario residents who have low incomes including tenants, co-op members and people who are homeless
[ See ACTO's Law Reform and Advocacy resources page ]

---

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA)
CERA is an Ontario-based non-profit human rights organization that promotes human rights in housing and challenges discrimination. CERA works to remove the barriers that keep disadvantaged individuals and families from accessing and retaining the housing they need.
[ CERA Resources page ]

---

Stableandaffordable.com
Stableandaffordable.com is an initiative of the Wellesley Institute and the Housing Network of Ontario.
We are a network of organizations dedicated to one goal: stable and affordable housing for all Canadians.

---

Charter Challenge
Government Obligated To End Homelessness
Source:
Black Hat Media
Black Hat Media is a solo attempt at an on-line magazine. Black Hat Media will combine two elements that are rarely (if ever) dealt with in the same forum effectively - advocacy and arts/entertainment. The founder, writer, photographer, editor, and publisher of Black Hat Media has a unique perspective with both elements of this e-zine.

Report: Three Million Canadians Have Feared or Experienced Homelessness
– Salvation Army study shows increase in demand for social services
News Release
Toronto, ON, May 3, 2010 – A new report shows that approximately three million people – one in nine Canadian adults – have either worried about or personally experienced homelessness. This report, released by The Salvation Army indicates that demand for social services are on the rise. At the same time, the public perceives homelessness and poverty as two of the nation’s most critical social problems. The report is being released today to kickoff The Salvation Army’s National Red Shield Campaign, a month-long effort that seeks to educate the public about the cycle of poverty in Canada and raise funds to help combat the problem.

Poverty shouldn’t be a life sentence : A report on
the perceptions of homelessness and poverty in Canada (PDF - 3MB, 8 pages)
May 2010
Currently, one in nine Canadians have either experienced or come close to experiencing homelessness, and a majority of the public thinks homelessness rates are increasing, which is consistent with what The Salvation Army is seeing nationally. At the same time, homelessness and poverty remain at the forefront of the public’s mind. Both the problem of poverty and the issue of homelessness were cited as leading social concerns across the country. Additionally, the public recognizes that a variety of factors contribute to homelessness.

We asked Canadians how poverty
and homelessness affects them (YouTube video testimonials)
May 02, 2010
This year, The Salvation Army is releasing data to illustrate the publics perception on homelessness and poverty. By releasing this data, our goal is to illustrate the realities, and lay to rest some commonly-held misconceptions, about homelessness and poverty. Ultimately, we hope this information will help the public understand why extreme homelessness and poverty persist.

Source:
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is an international Christian organization that began its work in Canada in 1882 and has grown to become the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in the country. The Salvation Army gives hope and support to vulnerable people today and everyday in 400 communities across Canada and 117 countries around the world

Related link:

Canadian homelessness report:
Are you living paycheque to paycheque?
May 3, 2010
One in nine Canadians has been or come close to being homeless, a study released by the Salvation Army suggests. Levels were highest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where 20 per cent of respondents said they had experienced or come close to experiencing homelessness, among those aged 45 to 55 years (16 per cent) and among those with income levels under $40,000 a year (20 per cent), the report said.
Source:
CBC

Green Homes, Out of the Box
Shipping containers revolutionized the global economy, making trade possible on a scale never before seen. Now, these big steel boxes hold the potential to revolutionize urban living and design. In this series, The Tyee reports on how these containers are being refashioned into affordable, green buildings in Europe and Asia and examines how they could be used to solve North America's housing problems as well.
Three-part series:
[Click the link above toaccess the individual articles.]
* Green and Affordable Homes, Out of the Box - 12 Apr 2010
* Is this Canada's Most Affordable Green Home? - 13 April 2010
* Homeless Housing For Less - 14 April 2010
Source:
The Tyee

Mental Health Commission of Canada Launches National Research Project to Find Sustainable Solutions for
People With Mental Health Issues Who Are Homeless : Study will investigate ‘Housing First’ approach (PDF - 139K, 2 pages)
News Release
TORONTO, November 23, 2009 – The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has implemented a ground-breaking national research project in five cities to find the best way to provide housing and services to people who are living with mental illness and homelessness. Using a ‘Housing First’ approach, the research project focuses on first providing people who are homeless with a place to live, and then the other assistance and services they require. The goal is to see if this approach is better than traditional ‘care as usual.’
Source:
Mental Health Commission of Canada
The Mental Health Commission of Canada is a non-profit organization created to focus national attention on mental health issues and to work to improve the health and social outcomes of people living with mental illness.

Related links:

Mentally ill get housing in study
565 Toronto homeless will enrol in research
November 23, 2009
The largest project in Canada's history to study the link between mental illness and homelessness kicks off Monday, offering hope – and a home – to more than 1,300 street people across the country. Housing first, rehabilitation will follow – that's the philosophy behind a national research project on homelessness and mental illness being launched by the new Mental Health Commission of Canada. (...) Altogether, 1,325 people will be given a place to live and social services during the study, which is to get $110 million in funding over the next five years. Participants are expected to contribute 30 per cent of their income, including welfare and disability payments. Canada has an estimated 300,000 homeless people. (...) The program is modelled after the successful Pathways to Housing Project, which was founded in New York City in 1992 and has since spread out to 40 cities worldwide.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Pathways to Housing - U.S.
Pathways to Housing was founded by Dr. Sam Tsemberis in 1992, and is widely credited as being the originator of the "Housing First" model of addressing homelessness among people with psychiatric disabilities. The Housing First model is simple: provide housing first, and then combine that housing with supportive treatment services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, education, and employment.

November 5, 2009
Mortality among residents of shelters, rooming houses, and hotels in Canada
Living in shelters, rooming houses, and hotels is associated with much higher mortality than expected on the basis of low income alone, according to this 11 year follow-up study from Canada. Reducing the excessively high rates of premature mortality in this population would require interventions to address deaths related to smoking, alcohol, and drugs, and mental disorders and suicide, among other causes, say the authors.

Mortality among residents of shelters,
rooming houses, and hotels in Canada: 11 year follow-up study
Published 26 October 2009
By Stephen W. Hwang et al.
Highlights (including results and conclusions)
Complete study (PDF - 143K, 9 pages)

Source:
British Medical Journal

Related link:

Homeless have a much shorter life expectancy, study suggests
10 years of research suggest poverty not only factor in premature deaths
October 26, 2009
By Sheryl Ubelacker
Canadians living in homeless shelters and rooming houses have a much shorter life expectancy than the general population — and poverty is not the only factor contributing to their premature deaths, researchers conclude. In a 10-year study, researchers found the chance of surviving to age 75 among the homeless or inadequately housed is 32 per cent for men and 60 per cent for women, compared to 51 per cent and 72 per cent respectively for the lowest income group in Canada's population. (...) The study, published online Monday by the British Medical Journal, looked at 1991 census data on 15,100 people of varying ages across Canada, who reported being homeless or living in rooming houses or hotels.
Source:
The Globe and Mail

Homelessness in Canada: New (free) e-book
June 18, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Finding Home is a new (free) e-book on homelessness in Canada with 29 chapters (so far) on justice, Aboriginal people, immigrants and refugees, women, children and youth, health, and – of course – housing. A section on housing rights is being planned. The e-book includes summaries of recently completed research reports as well as the best and most policy-relevant published articles from scholarly journals. The chapters have been edited to keep them at a length of 3,000 to 9,000 words and to ensure that they are accessible to a non-specialist audience. Each chapter is a separate dowloadable PDF. The e-book is organized into themes that represent specific groups of homeless people and issues that intersect with homelessness, along with a section on research issues. The book is designed to grow over time as new chapters are added. The book is published on the Homeless Hub.
Reviewed by:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

The Book:

Finding Home: Policy Options for Addressing Homelessness in Canada
"...an easily accessible collection of the best Canadian research and policy analysis on homelessness. The e-book will be permanently available on the Homeless Hub. The e-book includes summaries of recently completed research reports as well as the best and most policy-relevant published articles from scholarly journals. The chapters have been edited to keep them at a length of 3,000 to 9,000 words and to ensure that they are accessible to a non-specialist audience. Each chapter is a separate dowloadable PDF. The e-book is organized into themes that represent specific groups of homeless people and issues that intersect with homelessness, along with a section on research issues. The book is designed to grow over time as new chapters are added. This e-book project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
NOTE : scroll down past the intro for links to all 29 PDF files

Source (of the e-book):
Homeless Hub
Building on the success of the Canadian Conference on Homelessness (2005), the Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada. Launched in 2007, the Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information center representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking.
- incl. links to : Library - Topics - Education - Experiences - Gallery - Doing Research - Events - Networks - People

Homeless Hub Topics
(Click on topics to see sub-topics)
* Homelessness * Housing * Health * Mental Health * Substance Use & Addiction * Income, Employment & Education * Legal & Justice Issues * Population

Related links:

Canadian Homelessness Research Network
The Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) is dedicated to helping end homelessness by improving the impact of homelessness research on policy and practice.
- incl. links to :
* About CHRN * Objectives * Partners * Grants * Contact Us * Homeless Hub

At last, province getting message on housing
July 3, 2009
By Carol Goar
The consultations began without fanfare. That is a good sign. For the past six years, Premier Dalton McGuinty has set ambitious housing targets and missed them; announced promising programs and underfunded them; talked big and delivered little. This time, the government is building the housing plank of its poverty reduction strategy quietly and co-operatively.
Source:
Toronto Star

Federal program aims to get mentally ill off streets
August 25, 2009
About 300 homeless people in Montreal will be picked to take part in a new federal housing project.About 300 homeless people in Montreal will be picked to take part in a new federal housing project. (CBC)Hundreds of homeless people with mental illness in five cities across Canada will take part in an ambitious federal housing experiment this fall that researchers say could become a new model for helping the down and out. The experiment – created by the Canadian Commission on Mental Health – will provide subsidized apartments and intensive psychological and social support to more than 1,000 homeless people in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Moncton. The $150-million program will track participants' progress for four years and compare it to people who remain on the streets. Researchers hope that by offering furnished housing and social support, homeless people living with mental illness will be able to reintegrate into society.
Source:
CBC News

No Way Home
March 2004
While youth homelessness is not a new phenomenon, it has become more severe in Canada over the past two decades.
- incl. links to :
* Who are homeless youth? * Life on the street * The hazards of homelessness * The causes of homelessness * The cost of homelessness
Source:
CBC News - Fifth Estate

Consolidated government investments in housing up across Canada
June 16, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Governments at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels across Canada increased investments in housing by 10.4% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, as compared to the previous fiscal year, according to new figures released today by Statistics Canada as part of their government revenues and expenditures database. This brings consolidated government investments in housing to almost 1% of overall government spending – about the same level as the early 1990s before a massive round of federal and provincial spending cuts and downloading decimated most housing programs and triggered a nation-wide affordable housing crisis and homelessness disaster
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

From the "Dog Bites Man" news department:

High rent, low income driving homelessness: researcher
April 11, 2009
By Shannon Proudfoot
Homelessness initiatives in Canada that focus on the "usual culprits" of mental illness, family breakdown, addiction, crime and violence are missing the biggest causes, says a Canadian economist. Krishna Pendakur, an economics professor at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, says the main reasons people end up on the streets are straightforward but often overlooked: low income and high rents. "Those other things -- mental illness, crime, marital breakdown, drugs, crime -- all matter, but they matter a lot more if you're poor and you live in a place that has high rents,"he says.
Source:
The Financial Post

From the
Subcommittee on Cities:
[ Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
News Release
Ottawa (December 8, 2009) – A major Senate report tabled today is declaring that Canada’s system for lifting people out of poverty is substantially broken and must be overhauled. “We began this study by focusing on the most vulnerable city-dwellers in the country, those whose lives are marginalized by poverty, housing challenges and homelessness.” stated Senator Art Eggleton, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Cities. “As our research evolved, so too did our frustration and concern as we repeatedly heard accounts of policies and programs only making living in poverty more manageable – which essentially entraps people." The recommendations in the report, In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness, are the summation of a two-year cross-country study. Committee members heard testimony from more than 170 witnesses, including people living in poverty, several of them homeless, as well as universities, think tanks, provincial and local governments and community organizations.

Complete report:

In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness (PDF - 3.8MB, 290 pages)
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Report of the Subcommittee on Cities
The Honourable Art Eggleton P.C., Chair
The Honourable Hugh Segal, Deputy Chair
December 2009
[ version française (PDF - 4,5Mo., 331 pages) ]

Executive Summary
* Evidence * Poverty * Poverty reduction strategies * Employment Insurance * Training and education * Health * Income transfers through the tax system * Housing and homelessness * Programs targeted to over-represented groups * Rights-based approaches * Common cause * Knowledge exchange

Related link:

Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (PDF - 696K, 96 pages)
June 2008
First Report of the Subcommittee on Cities

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
[ Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

Related link:

Canadian Mental Health Association Supports
Senate Report on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Report Addresses Mental Health Issues
News Release
(Ottawa) December 9, 2009 - Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), National supports several of the recommendations of “In From The Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness”, Report of the Subcommittee on Cities of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology tabled yesterday in Ottawa. (...) CMHA, National believes that many of the report’s options apply to persons struggling with mental health issues, and recommended several that would benefit persons living with a mental illness. These include recommendations to extend Employment Insurance benefits to 50 weeks, as well as the institution of a national Pharmacare program which would ease the burden of cost for and access to psychoactive medication. Especially pertinent to persons with lived experience of mental illness who are not attached to the labour market are recommendations for the Federal Government to work with provinces to increase provincial assistance rates to after-tax LICO (low income cut-off) levels, as well as investigating opportunities for a basic annual income for Canadians with disabilities.
Source:
Canadian Mental Health Association

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Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (PDF - 696K, 96 pages)
First Report of the Subcommittee on Cities of the Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology
[ Chair : The Honourable Art Eggleton, P.C. ]
June 2008

Related Media Advisory:

Poverty in Canada: 38 Years On
June 26, 2008
Since the landmark 1970 Croll Report brought the issue of poverty out of the shadows, the Senate has frequently revisited the crushing effects of poverty on Canadians. Today the Senate Subcommittee on Cities has tabled its report Poverty, Housing, and Homelessness: Issues and Options touching on Canada's largest metropolitan areas, complementing the work done this Parliamentary session by the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry on rural poverty.

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
[ Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homelessness in Canada
- incl. the following : * History * Causes ( Lack of low income housing - Deinstitutionalization - Poverty in Canada) * Data Collection * External links

Public housing - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- incl. overviews of public housing in Canada and United States, as well as twelve other countries from Australia to the United Kingdom

Affordable housing - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- incl. overviews of affordable housing in the US, the UK and Canada (only Ontario, though)

Subsidized housing - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Poverty in Canada
- incl. links to : * History of poverty in Canada * Measures of poverty in Canada * Low income groups in Canada * Effects of poverty in Canada * Assistance for poor people in Canada (Government transfers and intervention - Non-governmental assistance) * more...

2008 Quality of Life (QOL) Report:
Trends & Issues in Affordable Housing & Homelessness (PDF file - 3.6MB, 40 pages)
January 2008
This publication, the fourth theme report published by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities as part of the Quality of Life Reporting System (QOLRS), focuses on trends related to housing and homelessness in 22 large and medium-sized municipalities and urban regions in Canada. The report's focus is the period 2000-2006, with some reference to trends dating back to 1991.
Source:
FCM Quality of Life Reports
[ Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)]

Canada lacks housing strategy
Editorial
March 5, 2008
Housing is one of the most basic needs. Yet federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's only acknowledgement of that in his budget speech last week was to say that Canadians "want healthy, safe communities." His budget did nothing to help low- to middle-income families get and keep housing they can afford. (...) Canada is the only major country in the world without a national housing strategy.
Source:
The Toronto Star

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From CTV:

Canada ranks best on housing affordability survey
Updated January 30, 2008

Canada is at the top of the list in a new study comparing housing affordability in six countries.

The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2008 (PDF - 768K, 52 pages) released by Wendell Cox Consultancy, compared conditions in the larger cities of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Source:
DEMOGRAPHIA
"Demographics, Developmental Impacts, Market Research and Urban Policy"

CITY OF OTTAWA

Leadership Table on Homelessness launches 10-year plan, announces placement of 100 people in first year
May 22, 2009
Ottawa – This morning, the Leadership Table on Homelessness (LTH) announced that, through the support of the City of Ottawa, Ottawa Community Housing and the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, 100 chronically homeless people in our community will be placed in supportive housing within the next few weeks. The LTH also released Destination: Home, a plan for our community to address and eliminate chronic homelessness
[ The Leadership Table on Homelessness (LTH) consists of business leaders, government officials, community agencies and members of the faith community, who have come together to implement a plan to end chronic homelessness in Ottawa. The LTH is a community-wide initiative, supported by United Way/Centraide Ottawa and the City of Ottawa. ]
Source:
United Way of Ottawa

Complete report (10-year plan):

Destination: Home
Leadership Table on Homelessness
Ending Chronic Homelessness in Ottawa:
Our Vision, Our Plan (PDF - 1.2MB, 13 pages)
May 2009
Core Strategies:
1. HOUSING FIRST
Provide a permanent, stable home for every chronically homeless person.
2. SUPPORT SERVICES
Provide each chronically homeless person with the support services he or she needs in order to remain housed and off the streets.
3. ENGAGEMENT
Build understanding about chronic homelessness and engage the community in helping us provide housing and support services to the chronically homeless

Related links:

City to spend $1M a year to help 100 homeless get off streets
May 22, 2009
The City of Ottawa announced Friday that it's taking a million-dollar step toward ending chronic homelessness in the city. With the help of Leadership Table on Homelessness, the group of business leaders and government officials that made the announcement Friday, the city said it hopes to help 100 chronically homeless people a year. The city said it has committed $1 million a year to provide support for the 100 homeless who will soon be given homes.
Source:
CBC

Report urges housing for chronically homeless
Saving on services will bring benefits to us all in the long run, group says
May 22, 2009
OTTAWA - The squalid, shadowy side of Fat City came sharply into focus Friday with the release of a compelling report on how to end chronic homelessness in Ottawa within 10 years. The report, titled "Destination: Home," noted that more than 1,400 people in Ottawa are categorized as "chronically homeless," defined as those who spend more than 60 cumulative nights a year on the streets or in shelters.
Source:
The Ottawa Citizen

Related links:

Panel Study on Persons Who Are Homeless in Ottawa:

Phase 2 Results Final Report (PDF - 473K, 67 pages)
By Tim Aubry, Ph.D., Fran Klodawsky, Ph.D., Rebecca Nemiroff, B.A., Sarah Birnie, B.A. & Cristina Bonetta, M.A.
March 2007

Phase 1 Results Final Report (PDF - 378K, 51 pages)
By Tim Aubry, Ph.D., Fran Klodawsky, Ph.D., Rebecca Nemiroff, B.A., Sarah Birnie, B.A. & Cristina Bonetta, M.A.
December 2003 - Revised to November 2006

[ more homelessness reports from the
Alliance to end Homelessness in Ottawa ]

Source:
Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa

British Columbia:

BC Social housing reality check:
Ministry’s own service plans show few net new units since 2006
News Release
September 13, 2010
(Vancouver) A new report shows that despite some positive recent developments on rental assistance and homelessness, BC’s progress in building new social housing units has been minimal. Unpacking the Housing Numbers: How Much New Social Housing is BC Building? is being released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Social Planning and Research Council of BC. The authors conducted a detailed examination of BC Housing’s service plans for 2006 to 2011. (...) In fact, the government’s own data indicate an overall net increase of only 280 new housing units over the past five years, a sobering and concerning finding.

Complete report:

Unpacking the Housing Numbers:
How Much New Social Housing is BC Building? (PDF File, 559K, 12 pages)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates.

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Homelessness : Clear Focus Needed (PDF - 3MB, 44 pages)
March 2009
"(...) Given the complexity of the issue, reducing and preventing homelessness requires all levels of government to form a clear focus, a long-term commitment, and a coordinated effort.(...) We recommend that government develop a comprehensive plan to address homelessness."
Source:
Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia

Related links:

BC auditor confirms that province's homeless programs "not successful"
March 6, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
John Doyle, the British Columbia auditor, has just released a sobering review of homelessness programs that concludes that the provincial government “has not been successful in reducing homelessness. Clear goals and objectives for homelessness and adequate accountability for results remain outstanding. Government also lacks adequate information about the homeless and about the services already available to them — this hampers effective decision making. Finally, government has not yet established appropriate indicators of success to improve public accountability for results.” The auditor’s report echoes many of the themes raised by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing in the final report on his fact-finding mission to Canada (See the links immediately below), which will be tabled at the UN Human Rights Council on Monday. The auditor calls for a much more thorough and pragmatic plan to end homelessness in British Columbia, and notes that many other jurisdictions have already adopted solid plans.
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

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The stench of vanishing money:
How Downtown Eastside welfare fraud adds to the area's misery and squalor
By Ethan Baron
March 6, 2009
"(...) More than 7,000 of the Downtown Eastside's 16,000 residents are on welfare, many living in the 3,500 single-room-occupancy (SRO) rooms owned by private landlords. These SROs are in effect government-subsidized housing, with profits going in many cases — and I'm not pointing a finger at the Brandiz, revolting as it is — to some landlords and managers who scam tenants out of their welfare money.
Source:
The Province
[Comment : curious, isn't it, how this headline leads one to believe that the article might be about welfare fraud, when in reality the fraud is perpetrated by unscrupulous private landlords ripping off welfare clients. Curious.]

See also:
Operation Phoenix : a year-long project by The Province, CKNW 980 and Global B.C.
We hope to engage the community in seeking solutions to the issues facing our most vulnerable citizens in the Downtown Eastside.
[ more about Operation Phoenix ]

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A Home for All [BC]
The Tyee's solutions-oriented series on affordable housing for working people.
February 2009
For too many British Columbians, having a job or even a two-income family is no longer enough to guarantee a basic, comfortable place to live -- in fact, the average Metro Vancouver earner can afford only half a home. In a market that isn't delivering a variety of cost-effective housing, Tyee investigative editor Monte Paulsen reports on how different approaches to finance, government policy and design could whittle the costs down to manageable proportions. And we invite experts to weigh in with their own opinion pieces.The challenge to the ongoing economic and cultural vibrancy of B.C. is critical. The conversation about overcoming that challenge starts here.
In this series:
Fixing the Crazy Cost of Housing
10 Feb 2009
Ordinary people in BC can no longer afford ordinary homes. First in a series searching for solutions.
Affordable Housing: Five Myths
12 Feb 2009
Betting on 'market correction'? Home prices would have to plunge 55 per cent to fit average family income.
Homes that Cost Less than Rental
17 Feb 2009
How a Toronto developer creates 'cost-effective' condos sold to families making as low as $32,000.
No Money Down Mortgages Still a Good Idea? This One Works
24 Feb 2009
Helping renters buy homes, leave social housing, makes space for others.
[ more articles on affordable housing in The Tyee ]
Source:
The Tyee
"In November of 2003 The Tyee began its swim upstream against the media trends of our day. We're independent and not owned by any big corporation. We're dedicated to publishing lively, informative news and views, not dumbed down fluff. We, like the tyee salmon for which we are named, roam free and go where we wish.

Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada
Second Canadian Conference on Homelessness
Calgary, February 18 to 20, 2009
Sponsored by:
Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary

Daily conference blogs by Michael Shapcott:

* Day one of Canada's national housing / homelessness conference: Federal minister speaks, but precious little is said
(Feb. 18)
* Day two of Canada's national housing and homelessness conference starts with powerful presentation
(Feb. 19)
* Day three of Canada's national housing and homelessness conference includes a call to action
(Feb. 20)

Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Media coverage of 2009 event:

No 'one-size-fits-all' solution to homelessness
Activists, politicians gather in Calgary to discuss social problem made very difficult by variety of contributing factors, split responsibilities
By John R. Graham
February 18, 2009
The more I work in the area of homelessness, the more I am convinced of its contradictions. In the downtown core of any major Canadian city, the homeless are ubiquitous. A recent study estimates that 150,000 to 300,000 Canadians are without shelter every year. And yet we can be blasé about it; if it isn't a problem in our immediate community, we may not give it much attention. Homelessness is one of the great indecencies of our time; and it is one of our country's tragic indifferences.
Source:
The Edmonton Journal

Ottawa's social housing plan called a 'drop in the bucket'
Colette Derworiz,
February 19, 2009
As the federal government Wednesday touted its commitment to social housing, the people who work directly with the homeless population said it doesn't go far enough.
Source:
Calgary Herald

Housing bill of rights introduced in Canadian Parliament
February 11, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Just days after Canada was criticized at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva for failing to meet its international housing obligations, a new National Housing Bill of Rights has been introduced in Canada's House of Commons by MP Libby Davies (NDP - Vancouver East). Bill C-304 , a Private Member's Bill, seeks to re-engage the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, along with the community and private sectors in a comprehensive national housing strategy. It's a powerful and comprehensive piece of legislation that would re-establish a national housing plan that Canada has lost after two decades of funding cuts, downloading and an increasingly fraying patchwork of funding and programs.

Source:
Wellesley Institute

Related link:

Bill C-304 (Libby Davies' Private Member's Bill)

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From the Wellesley Institute Blog:

Alberta announces $3.2b plan to end homelessness
March 16, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Alberta government has today released a dramatic plan to end homelessness in 10 years by committing $1.2 billion in capital investments and $2 billion in operating funding. The plan – based on the “housing first” approach (which provides immediate housing and then offers supports as required) – will lead to the creation of 11,000 new homes by 2012, according to the provincial government. Full details, including funding and implementation lines, will be released in next month’s provincial budget.

The Alberta Plan:

A Plan For Alberta : Ending Homelessness in 10 years (PDF - 1.8MB, 48 pages)
October 2008
Prepared By:
The Alberta Secretariat
For Action On Homelessness
[ Alberta Housing and Urban Affairs ]

Related link:

Homelessness in Canada: Past, Present, Future (PDF - 101K, 13 pages)
February 18, 2009
David Hulchanski of the Cities Centre and Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto looks at the evolution of the set of social problems we now call homelessness and the efforts of governments and communities to address them.
[ Conference keynote address, Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada, University of Calgary ]
Source:
David Hulchanski
Cities Centre, University of Toronto

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Public housing investments - generating jobs and other social / economic benefits
November 11, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
Canada's first ministers have had a preliminary meeting and they've agreed to work towards a massive investment in infrastructure to help respond to the current global economic crisis and also to improve bridges, transit and other necessary public works. (...) Here are five good reasons for Canada's first ministers to ramp up public investments in affordable housing as part of an overall economic stimulus package...
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through community-based research , community engagement , and the informing of public policy.

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Day of Action for a National Housing Strategy
News Release
July 10, 2008
Toronto / Ottawa / Metro Vancouver – ACORN Canada will be hosting rallies in three cities across Canada on Thursday July 10th as we release our National Report Card on the State of Affordable Housing. The report card shows how the abdication of leadership by the Federal Government over the last decade in the area of housing policy has let Canada slip below international standards and will outline the deficiencies of Canada’s failure to introduce a national strategy for housing. Canada is the only major country without a national housing strategy

Stephen Harper's Conservatives on Housing : Failing the Grade (PDF - 348K, 4 pages)
July 10, 2008 (PDF file date)
"(...)According to data compiled from the 2006 Census, an estimated 3 million Canadian households (24.9%) are spending more than 30% of their income on shelter (Statistics Canada, 2008). While some of this is undoubtedly reflective of the high rates of condominium builds and debt-driven ownership among citizens in higher income brackets, it is discouraging to note that this number also includes nearly 80% of citizens in the two lowest income quintiles. When the focus is narrowed further to include only major cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, where the majority of the population actually resides, it is clear that low and moderate income Canadians are truly being left behind. In these cities, residents face a formidable affordability gap (household income versus market rates), and can spend more than 75% of their monthly income on rents."

Source:
ACORN Canada
ACORN is building a national movement for social and economic justice by organizing low- and moderate-income communities for power and social change; we want living wage jobs, decent affordable housing, tenant rights, ending predatory lending, opportunities for youth, voting and electoral rights. If it affects poor and working class communities, ACORN Members are organizing to win equity in Toronto and across the country. ACORN Canada is made up of more than 9,000 low- and moderate-income member families. There are more than 20 local chapters of ACORN throughout the country, organized democratically through community organizing. Our work is getting results and making change!

ACORN Canada is part of the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) (U.S., based in Chicago)
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.
[ ACORN reports ]
NOTE: See ACORN's Living Wage Web Site - campaign for local laws requiring city service contractors to pay a living wage. There are currently 122 local ordinances in place and more than 75 living wage campaigns underway in cities, counties, states, and college campuses across the country.

Related link:

Housing plan missing
Toronto Star Editorial
Yet another report, this one from low-income people themselves, has blasted the federal government for failing to do enough to provide affordable housing in this country. ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, gave the federal government an F in all four housing measures it analyzed in its report, released last week. They include: meeting its promises to the provinces; not committing to renewal of the three existing federal programs that include a homelessness strategy; and failing to adopt a national housing strategy.
Source:
TheStar.com

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Ottawa's Kindness Meters

Spare change, sir? Feed the meter, Ottawa mayor says
December 3, 2007
Mayor Larry O'Brien is encouraging generous Ottawa residents not to reach for their wallets as they pass the scruffy panhandlers who beg for spare change on the city's cold sidewalks. Instead, the public should save their loonies and toonies for special coin banks or "kindness meters" similar to parking meters that will be installed in the Byward Market this week
Source:
CBC

This is wrong for so many reasons that I didn't know where to begin my rant, so I decided to spotlight yesterday's blog entry by my friend, Susan Scruton. It's a very thoughtful, articulate and compelling rebuttal of the concept of "kindness meters". Here's a summary of the reasons why the Ottawa Mayor's plan is full of baloney:
* They’re insulting to poor people.
* They attempt to dehumanize compassion.
* They could lead to an increase in crime by people with addictions.
* They introduce a layer of bureaucracy into the equation.
* There is no guarantee that the panhandlers most directly in need, like mentally ill people, will receive any help.
* They put social service agencies in direct competition with their clients for our spare change.
* How elitist of the Kindness Meters to only take loonies and toonies!
* The concept is based on hypocrisy and stinginess.
"This is the same mayor who compared homeless people to pigeons and said if we stopped feeding them, they’d go away. We know where he stands on this issue. When he tries to fake compassion he just looks like the rich, stingy hypocrite he is."

Read the complete "Kindness Meters" blog entry (December 17)
by Zoom
... and feel free to share the link to this blog with the Office of the Mayor of Ottawa: Larry.OBrien@ottawa.ca

Good for you, Zoom!
Shame on you, Larry.
Maybe instead of allocating the money collected to social agencies, Kindness Meters could be used to help fund Larry's compassion transplant .

</end leftie rant>

------------------------------------

Chretien dodges any blame for homeless
Jean Chrétien oversaw the scrapping of the Canada Assistance Plan.
By Charlie Smith
November 29, 2007
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien doesn't think that the government he led for 10 years is responsible for Vancouver's growing homelessness problem. In a wide-ranging phone interview with the Georgia Straight to coincide with the release of his new book, My Years as Prime Minister (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, $39.95), Chrétien said that the federal government has "some limited responsibility" for homelessness.
Source:
The Georgia Strait (Vancouver)

Policy Area: Housing and Homelessness (PDF file - 124K, 16 pages)
June 2007
Recommended reading for all housing/homelessness researchers --- this is a detailed inventory, for 2006 and 2007, of federal, provincial/territorial and some municipal program and policy announcements and events in the areas of housing and homelessness
Source:
Social Policy Record
[ Caledon Institute of Social Policy ]

------------------------------------

Thousands of homeless children losing out on education (PDF file - 208K, 1 page)
News Release
October 1, 2007
TORONTO – A groundbreaking new report shows at least 2,000 homeless children in Toronto are needlessly at risk of slipping through the cracks of the education system every year. Lost in the Shuffle, by the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto and Aisling Discoveries Child and Family Centre, is the first study in Canada to document the impact of homelessness on children's education in Toronto.

Complete report:

Lost in the Shuffle : The Impact of Homelessness on Children's Education in Toronto (PDF file - 5.9MB, 131 pages)
Phase 3 Report of the Kid Builders Research Project

Source:
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto
Aisling Discoveries Child and Family Centre

Related link:

Homeless kids neglected
Report says educational, emotional support lacking for students living in shelters
October 01, 2007
Every year about 3,000 school children in Toronto live in homeless shelters, says a new study to be released today. Yet despite this long-standing problem – the number of affected children has remained steady for the last five years –there are no government or school board policies to ensure the educational and emotional needs of these vulnerable children are being met, says Lost in the Shuffle, the first Canadian study on the issue.
Source:
Toronto Star

------------------------------------

The [Toronto] Street Health Report 2007 (PDF file - 2.4MB, 66 pages)
September 2007
"(...) The Street Health survey was conducted over a three-month period between November 2006 and February 2007. We surveyed a representative sample of 368 homeless adults at meal programs and shelters in downtown Toronto about their health and access to health care."
- includes "an action plan consisting of realistic solutions to immediately improve the health of homeless people and to ultimately end homelessness."
Source:
Street Health (Toronto)
... an innovative, community-based health care organization providing services to address a wide range of physical, mental and emotional needs in those who are homeless, poor and socially marginalized. Support, education and advocacy are key components of our services.

------------------------------------

Improving the Health of Canadians 2007-2008: Mental Health and Homelessness
The Improving the Health of Canadians: Mental Health and Homelessness report provides an overview of the latest research, surveys and policy initiatives related to mental health and homelessness and, for the first time, presents data on hospital use by homeless Canadians.
- includes links to the complete report and the media release (both of which are reproduced below) as well as links to download individual report sections, related documents and contact info if you wish to order a paper copy of the report

Complete Report:

Improving the Health of Canadians 2007-2008:
Mental Health and Homelessness (PDF file - 458K, 70 pages)
August 2007

Media Release:

Mental disorders account for more than half of hospital stays among the homeless in Canada:
New CIHI report offers overview of links between mental health, mental illness and homelessness
August 30, 2007—Mental disorders accounted for 52% of acute care hospitalizations among the homeless in 2005–2006 (outside Quebec), according to a new report released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). In addition, the report shows that 35% of visits to selected emergency departments (EDs)—mostly in Ontario—by homeless people were related to mental and behavioural disorders, a proportion that is higher than that for other patients (3%).

Source:
Canadian Population Health Initiative
[ Canadian Institute for Health Information ]

Related links:

Homeless hospitalized more often for mental illness: study
10,000 people in Canada are homeless on any given night
August 30, 2007
Homeless people in Canada have more mental health problems than the rest of the population, leading to higher hospitalization rates, says a new report released Thursday.
Mental disorders accounted for 52 per cent of acute care hospitalizations among the homeless in 2005-2006, said the report, released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
Source:
CBC News

Prime Minister launches national Mental Health Commission
August 31, 2007
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the final selection of the Board of Directors for the newly created Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Source:
Office of the New Prime Minister of Canada

Related Web/News/Blog links:

Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"CIHI, report, mental health, homelessness"
- Web search results page
- News search results page
- Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

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Homelessness 'chronic' in Canada: study
June 26, 2007
Canada's homeless population is somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 people, while another 1.7 million residents struggle with "housing affordability issues," says an analysis of the latest research on shelter. In a report released Tuesday from the Calgary-based Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, journalist and author Gordon Laird argues homelessness is now chronic and is quickly becoming one of the country's defining social issues. He makes a case for a national housing strategy and a more robust income security program.
Source:
CBC News

Complete report:

Homelessness in a growth economy: Canada’s 21st century paradox (PDF file - 2.6MB, 98 pages)
By Gordon Laird
A Report for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership
"Supporting a Canadawide homeless population of 150,000 people costs Canadian taxpayers between $4.5- to $6-billion each year"

Table of Contents:
– Findings & Policy Summary
– Introduction: Shelter, from Alms to Asset
– IQALUIT: Discovering Canada’s Hidden Homeless
– OTTAWA: The National Underclass
– TORONTO: Ground Zero
– CALGARY: Poverty Amid Affluence
– VANCOUVER: New Frontiers
– Conclusion: Ending the Crisis
Appendix I: The Cost of Homelessness
Appendix II: How Many Poor People?

Related link:

Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership
We work on : * Governance, rule of law, and democratic institutions * Legal ethics * Media ethics * Bio-medical and other technology issues * International affairs * Business ethics * Education and youth leadership * Human rights and civil liberties * Diversity issues * Environment and natural resources * Social justice

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Panhandling In Winnipeg: Legislation versus Support Services
by Tom Carter - Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Adaptation -
with Anita Friesen, Chesya Polevychok, John Osborne
May 2007
In June 2005, The City of Winnipeg passed an amendment to By-Law 7700/2000 prohibiting some methods of panhandling, and placing restrictions on some aspects of panhandling activity, particularly related to specific types of services or locations. This project addresses the following questions regarding the need for, and the effectiveness of, this legislation:
- Given the nature, number and activity of panhandlers in the city, is this legislation an appropriate response to the circumstances?
- Is the legislation likely to be effective? and,
- Are there more effective means of addressing the issues of panhandling? Is legislation the answer or should the focus be on services and programs to address systemic problems that lead to panhandling in the first place?

The report is available in four volumes:

(scroll to the bottom of the list of journals for a brief summary of the content of each of the four volumes whose links appear below)

Volume 1: Executive Summary (PDF file - 300K, 8 pages)
This volume presents an overview of Volume 2, 3 and 4, and summarizes the findings of the Panhandling in Winnipeg research project.

Volume 2: Literature and Legislation Review (PDF file - 598K, 55 pages)
Academic literature provides valuable insights into who panhandles and why they are on the streets of North American cities. The studies reviewed here document the increasing diversity and overall growth in the numbers of people panhandling. Negative reactions to panhandling have prompted many municipal governments to attempt to control panhandling through legislation and/or program approaches that assist panhandlers to “get off the street”. The main legislative/program approaches to addressing panhandling are reviewed here.

Volume 3: Mapping of Panhandling Activity (PDF file - 10.2MB, 76 pages)
This volume presents the results of field observation of panhandling activity in central Winnipeg. It focuses on the mapping of panhandling locations and panhandling methods, including distribution of panhandlers throughout the study area, priority or high traffic locations for panhandling activity, and proximity to “sensitive services.” The types of panhandling methods used, and the distribution and frequency of occurrences of different methods was also recorded and mapped.

Volume 4: Interviews with Panhandlers (PDF file - 403K, 83 pages)

If you have any comments or questions about the report, please direct them to Tom Carter at t.carter@uwinnipeg.ca or you may contact him by phone at (204)982-1148.

Source:
Journal articles, research reports ===> See also : * Research Highlights * Background and Resource Documents * Community Briefs
[Institute of Urban Studies (University of Winnipeg)]

Also from the Institute of Urban Studies:

Twelve recent reports on panhandling (special focus on Winnipeg)
Click the link above to access 20 reports of the Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Adaptation at the Institute of Urban Studies (University of Winnipeg).
The titles of the 12 most recent reports appear below; click the link above to access these studies and more...
* Why Panhandlers are on the Streets of North American Cities (June 2007)
* Who Panhandles in Winnipeg? (June 2007)
* Panhandling in Winnipeg Project: Mapping Methodology (June 2007)
* Location of Panhandling Activity in Winnipeg (June 2007)
* Panhandling Alone or in Groups: What is the Approach in Winnipeg? (June 2007)
* When Panhandlers are Active in Downtown Winnipeg (June 2007)
* Different Groups' Perception of Panhandling in Winnipeg (June 2007)
* Legislative Approaches to Panhandling (June 2007)
* Program Approaches to Panhandling (July 2007)
* Housing Circumstances of Panhandlers in Winnipeg (July 2007)
* Does Panhandling Provide a Living (July 2007)
* Why do Panhandlers Panhandle in Winnipeg? (September 2007)

Source:
Publications / Research Highlights
[ Journal articles, research reports ] ===> See also : Background and Resource Documents * Community Briefs
[ Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Adaptation ]
[ Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg

The Housing Circumstances Of Recently Arrived Refugees:The Winnipeg Experience
By Dr. Tom Carter et al.
(July 2008 for Prairie Metropolis)

Housing is a central component of the settlement experience of refugees. A positive housing situation can facilitate many aspects of integration. Unaffordable, crowded, unsafe housing, however, can cause disruptions in the entire settlement process. A two-year study of recently arrived refugees in the city of Winnipeg illustrates the significant housing challenges they face. In the first year 75 households who had been in the city a year or less were interviewed. Fifty-five of these households were re-interviewed a year later. The research findings highlight the housing and neighbourhood challenges the households faced in the first year and the changes in their circumstances that had occurred by the time interviews were conducted in the second year.

Download full report (PDF - 2.3MB, 146 pages)
Research Highlights (PDF - 35K, 4 pages)

Source:
Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg

The Wellesley Institute
The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through rigorous community-based research, reciprocal capacity building, and the informing of public policy.

The Wellesley Institute Blog

Issue Pages: Housing and Homelessness
- incl. links to key online resources, presentations and blog entries on this issue

Selected site content:

Ontario government gives housing dollars with one hand, takes away more with the other
October 24, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Ontario government is helping households across the province cope with deep and persistent housing insecurity and homelessness by making a big 7% ($52.1 million) cut to spending at the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, according to the province's fall economic account. Over the past four years, MAH has seen its annual operating funding cut by $222.4 million (that's almost a quarter of a billion dollars) - adding up to a painfully deep 24% cut since fiscal 2005. Over the past four years, the cumulative spending cuts at MAH add up to $657.1 million. This is enough to finance the construction of more than 4,380 new affordable homes.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

For links to the Fall Ontario Outlook for 2009 (October 22, 2009),
go to the 2009 Canadian Government Budgets Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

---

Exciting news: Bill to create national housing plan passes second reading in House of Commons today
September 30, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Bill C-304, An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, just passed second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon and is going to committee for review and possible amendment. This is exciting news – and credit both to MP Libby Davies, who sponsored the legislation, and the many housing advocates who have worked hard over the years to bring this critically important legislation forward. Three of the four political parties in the House of Commons supported the bill: NDP, Bloc and Liberals. Plus a lone Conservative, MP Peter Goldring. Private member's bills traditionally get a rough ride in Parliament, and MP Davies has introduced various versions of this legislation several times over the past decade. A rising concern across the country about deep and persistent housing insecurity, and the minority Parliament, along with strong support from housing and homelessness groups across the country, has propelled this draft legislation forward. Next step for the bill is the Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) Committee of the Commons, which will consider the draft legislation and possible amendments, before sending it back to the House of Commons for third and final reading. More details on the timeline will be posted as they are available.

Big news: Ontario inclusionary housing legislation passes second reading
September 24, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Inclusionary housing (and the promise of thousands of new affordable homes in new developments across the province) is one step closer in Ontario as MPP Cheri DiNovo’s Bill 198 (PDF - 326K, 5 pages) passed second reading in the Ontario Legislature this afternoon. The legislation would amend the Planning Act to give municipalities the power to require developers to include affordable housing in new developments.

$125 billion for banks; $2 billion for affordable housing
September 24, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Sixty-two and one-half years – that’s how long the federal government will have to spend on affordable housing, at the current rate, to equal the $125 billion “emergency” bailout package for banks and other mortgage lenders that federal finance minister James Flaherty has just extended. The profits of Canadian banks have slipped slightly from the record-breaking levels of 2005, 2006 and 2007, but the big six are still racking up billions in profits.

Not much of a national housing summit today without the feds at the table...
August 19, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The federal decision to boycott today’s national housing summit in St Johns, NL (the second time in two years that the federal housing minister has refused to meet with provincial and territorial counterparts) left the remaining summiteers without much to say or do.

---

Home ownership still out of reach for most low, moderate income households
July 14, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Entry into home ownership markets remains out of financial reach for low, moderate and even middle-income Canadians, according to a new analysis from the Wellesley Institute. In its latest semi-annual review of ownership affordability in Canada (PDF - 255K, 9 pages), RBC Economics reports that “low mortgage rates and persisting downward pressure on housing prices will to continue to help repair affordability”. While the RBC’s affordability measure is easing somewhat, the bottom line is that most Canadians who haven’t been able to buy a home still won’t be able to afford to buy one. Two-thirds of Canadian households earn less than the qualifying income for a standard two-storey home using the RBC scale. The Wellesley Institute is preparing a comprehensive State of the Nation’s Housing report that will examine affordability in the private rental and ownership markets, along with government investments in a range of housing policies

'Unprecedented' rise in number of precariously housed Americans:
2009 State of Nation's Housing report
June 22, 2009
Lower-income Americans are especially hard-hit by current recession and there has been an "unprecedented" increase in the number of people who are precariously housed. Those are among the grim findings in the 2009 State of the Nation's Housing report that was released today in Washington DC by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and others. Some key observations: "Low income homeowners and renters are hit especially hard in the current climate... in 2007, the year for which the most recent data exists, 51% of low income renters and 43% of low income owners paid more than half their incomes for housing... altogether, 17.9 million households spent more than half of their incomes on housing, a 30% increase that is 'unprecedented'.”

Complete report:

The State of the Nation's Housing 2009
- includes links to the full report in one PDF file and a table of contents with links to individual chapters in PDF format

Executive summary (PDF - 332K, 5 pages)

Homeless in Moncton: New report card
March 24, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
A total of 725 people were homeless in Moncton, New Brunswick, according to the 2008 homelessness report card from the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee. Among other items, the report notes that 30 people sleep on mats on the floor at one hostel every night, including pregnant women.

Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee
The Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee (GMHSC) is an inter-agency committee representing all agencies in Greater Moncton that work with the homeless population and those at risk of becoming homeless.

---

Homeless in Halifax: New report card
March 24, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
A total of 1,252 people stayed in homeless shelters in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2008, according to the first-ever Halifax Report Card on Homelessness 2009, which was released today. The report, prepared by Community Action on Homelessness, provides a grim accounting of the poor health and terrible conditions facing people who are homeless in a community that is, for many Canadians, a picturesque port city on Canada's eastern coast. The report documents the meagre investments in affordable homes by federal and Nova Scotia governments, and sets out a series of practical and pragmatic actions to end homelessness in Halifax.

Related links:

Halifax Report Card on Homelessness 2009 (PDF - 10MB, 20 pages)

Community Action on Homelessness (Halifax)
Our mission - to work in partnerships within our community, to advance community solutions
that address homelessness, and the right to a home as a key to the 'quality of life' for everyone in our community.

---

The Alberta Plan:

A Plan For Alberta : Ending Homelessness in 10 years (PDF - 1.8MB, 48 pages)
October 2008
Prepared By:
The Alberta Secretariat
For Action On Homelessness
[ Alberta Housing and Urban Affairs ]

Related link:

$2.075b for housing in Tuesday's federal budget???
January 25, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The federal government is busily leaking all sorts of details about Tuesday’s federal budget – a sharp departure from the usual secrecy that surrounds spending plans – and the latest “leak” from federal housing minister Diane Finley in the Sunday Toronto Star sets out $2.075 billion for housing initiatives. If the spending plans are confirmed in the budget (and it’s hard to imagine why Minister Finley would be so specific in her disclosures if she wasn’t in the know), it will mean (quoting the language in the Star):
• $1 billion to “renovate existing social housing”, including energy retrofitting;
• $600 million for on-reserve Aboriginal housing;
• $400 million for “seniors’ housing”;
• $75 million for “housing for people with disabilities”.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Related link:

Social housing to get boost
Poor, seniors and aboriginals expected to be among
the beneficiaries of more than $2 billion out of federal government's stimulus package
January 25, 2009
By Bruce Campion-Smith
OTTAWA–The federal government is poised to pump more than $2 billion into social housing nationwide – a sweeping investment aimed at helping the poor, aboriginals and seniors, the Star has learned. The spending is expected to be part of the aggressive stimulus package unveiled in Tuesday's federal budget and could provide a boost for tradespeople hit by the slowdown in the new housing market.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Three strikes and affordable housing in Canada is officially out!
June 5, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
The latest in three sets of major housing and income data over the past month (rental numbers released this morning) confirms the nation-wide affordable housing crisis is moving up the income scale from low to moderate to middle-income households. The numbers underline a deep, persistent and growing affordability gap between the rents charged in private markets (where most low, moderate and middle-income Canadians live) and renter household incomes.

Staggering one-in-four Canadian households in affordability squeeze
June 4, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
A staggering one-in-four Canadian households are in the housing affordability danger zone – paying 30% or more of their income on housing. Even more troubling, the poorest Canadian households – renters – face the worst affordability problems

Then and now - Liberal shout out on housing
May 28th, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
The Liberal caucus is once again thundering and shaking its collective fist at the Conservative government, as opposition parties are wont to do in our Parliamentary system of government. The release of the Liberal urban report, with a section on housing, earlier today raises two questions: What’s the difference between the Liberal outrage of 1990 and their outrage in 2008, and; what about the Conservatives – are the Harper Conservatives as bad for housing as the Mulroney Conservatives 18 years ago? (...) The New Democratic Party and the Parti Quebecois have been long-time and consistent advocates for increased investment and a new national housing strategy. Now, the Liberal Party has added its voice. Three of the four political parties in the Commons – a strong majority – are calling for housing action. All eyes are on the government of Stephen Harper.

National Housing Report Card 2008 (PDF - 204K, 18 pages)
Feds, most provinces fail to meet their commitment
to increase affordable housing funding by $2 billion
February 2008
[Related links]

***********************************

Related links:

Liberals Hear of Conservative Neglect of Cities
Media Releases
May 28, 2008
OTTAWA - A discussion paper released by the Urban Communities Caucus calls on the federal government to sit down with Canada's mayors and provincial politicians to solve the complex issues facing Canadian cities, said Liberal Urban Communities Caucus Chair Senator Larry Campbell.

Complete report:

Foundations for a Nation : Towards a Richer,
Greener and Fairer Canada (PDF - 828K, 30 pages)
A Discussion Paper of the Liberal Urban Communities Caucus
May 2008

Source:
Liberal Urban Communities Caucus
[ Liberal Party of Canada ]

***********************************

Federal Budget 2008:
Three Housing Questions for Finance Minister Flaherty (PDF file - 120K, 8 pages)
On Tuesday (Feb. 26), Federal Finance Minister James Flaherty will deliver the 2008 budget.
Michael Shapcott, Director of Community Engagement, reviews three key federal programs affecting housing and homelessness with a focus on key issues and solutions.

Related links : go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

Canada's home ownership markets plummet
March 14, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
Home ownership in Canada is at its most unaffordable level since the "housing recession" of 1990. That's the grim news today from RBC Economics and its latest quarterly housing affordability report. Outside of Alberta, housing affordability has deteriorated in every market and for every type of housing.

Complete RBC report:

Housing Affordability:
Alberta on watch (PDF file - 475K, 8 pages)
March 2008
Source:
RBC Economics Research

Wellesley Institute's 2008 national housing report card
shows that feds, most provinces fail to meet their own funding promises
February 4, 2008
On the eve of the first provincial-territorial housing ministers' summit in almost two and one-half years, a new report card from the Wellesley Institute reveals that the federal government and eight of the thirteen provinces and territories have failed to meet the commitments they made in November of 2001 to invest an additional $2 billion in affordable homes. "The numbers underline the urgent need not only for more dollars for affordable homes," says Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute.

Complete report:

National Housing Report Card 2008 (PDF file - 202K, 18 pages)
Feds, most provinces fail to meet their commitment to increase affordable housing funding by $2 billion

Related documents and links
from the National Housing Report Card 2008 main page:

Affordable housing gap tops $1 billion - from The Toronto Star

Ten Things You Should Know About Housing and Homelessness

United Nations Special Rapporteur’s preliminary observations following his recent fact-finding mission to Canada

Federation of Canadian Municipalities National Housing Action Plan

Wellesley Institute's Housing and Homelessness Issues page

University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies

Federal throne speech Tuesday: Three questions...
October 14, 2007
By Michael Shapcott
"(...)
Here are three key questions for the throne speech on housing and homelessness, which continue to be urgent priorities for Canadians right across the country.
ONE: Will the federal government renew and enhance housing, homelessness and rehab funding?
TWO: Will the federal government commit to funding and realistic targets for new affordable homes across Canada?
THREE: Will the federal government invest some of its multi-billion dollar surpluses in new affordable homes?

Family homelessness hits 20-year high in NYC
July 23, 2007
By Michael Shapcott
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2004 plan to cut homelessness in the Big Apple by two-thirds produced an almost immediate decline in the number of people in homeless shelters. But the latest numbers show a sharp upward spike to the highest number of homeless families in two decades. All the details are available from the NYC Department of Homeless Services and you can read more details from the New York City Coalition for the Homeless.

Talkin’ housing with the Bush man!
May 10, 2007
The charming, even charismatic, Philip Mangano - U.S. President George W. Bush’s “homeless czar” - was the keynote speaker on day one of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association annual congress in Calgary on Thursday, and he didn’t disappoint! Of course, you’d expect that a senior political appointee for the Bush administration would be a good salesman for the policies of that government.

First peek at federal budget 2007: Disappointment!
Wellesley Institute backgrounder: A first look at the 2007 federal budget
March 19, 2007
The 2007 federal budget entirely ignores Canada’s nation-wide affordable housing crisis and homelessness disaster, and is light when it comes to other social determinants of health.
Source:

Will federal budget deliver new housing program?
Michael Shapcott
March 16, 2007
The Harper government will deliver its second federal budget on Monday, March 19, 2007. Canada is one of the richest countries in the world, and the federal government continues to run multi-billion dollar surpluses (largely because of huge spending cuts - including housing spending - in the 1980s and 1990s). The Wellesley Institute’s 2007 federal pre-budget housing backgrounder looks at some key issues.

Wellesley Institute backgrounder:
New year, new homeless funding, new minister (PDF file - 52K, 4 pages)
Time for a comprehensive, fully-funded strategy
January 8, 2007
It’s a new year and a new housing and homelessness minister for Canada! The Hon. Monte Solberg, MP for Medicine Hat, Alberta, is usually described as “affable” (he was a broadcaster before entering politics), which is a pleasant quality in any cabinet minister. But Canada, alone among the major countries in the world, has no national housing program. And, even with an emerging patchwork of funding in recent years, housing funding is lower in 2006 than in 1993.

The Blueprint to End Homelessness (Toronto)
October 26, 2006
"Homelessness has a devastating impact on Toronto. More than 30,000 women, men and children crowd into the city’s homeless shelters annually. Many thousands more sleep on the streets or join the ranks of the “hidden homeless”. There are about 70,000 households on Toronto’s social housing waiting list. And, on the brink of homelessness, are 150,000 households paying more than half their income on shelter."
- incl links to : Home - About Us - Research - Public Policy - Capacity Building - Why We Need A Blueprint - Toronto’s Housing History - Recommendations From Past Studies - The New York Blueprint - Tri-Partite Agreement in Saskatoon - Tri-Partite Agreement in Vancouver - Tri-Partite Agreements in Winnipeg - Scotland Vows to End Homelessness by 2012

Complete report:
The Blueprint To End Homelessness
In Toronto: a two-part action plan (PDF file - 521K, 12 pages)
October 2006
Framework for the
Blueprint to End Homelessness in Toronto (PDF file- 3.35MB, 106 pages)
"Plenty of current data, a review of 43 major housing studies going back to 1918, a ward-by-ward analysis of housing and poverty numbers and other information is included in the framework document, which is a companion to the Blueprint to End Homelessness."

During the week ending August 18/06, both the federal Liberals and the NDP fired off nasty news releases about the cuts that the Harper Government is imposing on its Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative ("SCPI", under the National Homelessness Initiative). Then the evening news talked about funding shortfalls of close to $6 million in Toronto and $1 million in Ottawa, among other cuts. Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute circulated a summary of those cuts, and late the next day, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development released a statement denying that there were any cuts - and indeed that there was even an extra $37 million available.

Here are links to most of those bits of info, along with links to other online resources in the area of housing and homelessness.

Round one goes to community!
August 21, 2006
By Michael Shapcott, Senior Fellow, The Wellesley Institute
- short summary of the previous week's events, found on the Wellesley Institute Blog

August 18th SCPI Update - also by Michael Shapcott
- includes a summary of events starting with the August 15 announcement of cuts to SCPI and ending with the August 17 announcement by federal housing Minister Diane Finley of continuing and even increased funding --- for now. - the author urges everyone to continue lobbying politicians for a renewed federal financial commitment, because the entire SCPI program – and all related funding – will end on March 31, 2007, unless the federal government provides more funding.
- also includes politician contact info for the lobbyists and links to a related background paper outlining the full range of cuts (see "Federal homelessness cuts" below) and to a SCPI Extension motion from Toronto City Council in April 2006.

August 16, 2006
Millions of dollars of federal housing funding missing from cities, say activists
Social housing agencies across Canada are being shortchanged millions of dollars in funding under a federal program plagued by "administrative chaos," activists and opposition politicians said Wednesday.
Source:
Macleans

NDP calls on Conservatives to reverse cuts to federal housing funding
August 16, 2006
OTTAWA – As news of widespread cuts to federal funding of housing programs across Canada is revealed, the NDP is calling on the Conservative government to immediately restore all funding to the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI), a federal program that funds the construction of affordable housing. According to the City of Toronto’s Shelter Support and Housing Division, SCPI funding for the city will be cut by $5.8 million and details from the London Housing Coalition confirm that city has lost $513,000. The NDP has also learned of an impending $1 million cut to the City of Ottawa’s and a $416,000 cut in Yellowknife - a city that has been one of the hardest hit by homelessness. Details are currently being sought of potential cuts in other cities across the country.
Source:
New Democratic Party of Canada

Harper Government Reneges on Funding for the Homeless
August 17, 2006
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government must immediately reverse course and pledge to help the homeless rather than hurt them by cutting funding for homelessness programs across Canada, Liberal Party Finance Critic John McCallum and Social Development Critic Bonnie Brown said today. “I’m dismayed but not surprised by this move,” said McCallum. “We have to remember that this is the same Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who pledged to make homelessness illegal in 2002. It is unfortunate that extremist views like his always tend to hurt society’s most vulnerable.” McCallum first called on the Finance Minister not to cut funding for the homeless during question period last May when the Conservatives tabled their first budget which indicated that homelessness programs might be on the chopping block. The budget chastised the previous government for the “Use of the Federal Spending Power in Areas of Provincial Responsibility,” and outlined three such areas: early childhood development, childcare and housing and homelessness. McCallum pointed out the first of those two have already been eliminated and now it appears that they are moving on to the third.
Source:
Liberal Party of Canada

Federal homelessness cuts: Bad now, worse to come (PDF file - 45K, 1 page)
August 17, 2006
Summer 2006 cuts: Homeless funding cuts in 7 communities (so far) - The federal government committed $134.8 million in funding in fiscal 2006 for its national homelessness program (called the Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative). Most of the money is assigned to 10 large communities; with the rest shared among more than 50 other areas. To date, cuts to 2006 funding have been reported in: Peel (Ontario) - $144,000 cut • Guelph (Ontario) - $22,000 cut
• London (Ontario) - $367,000 cut • Windsor (Ontario) - $187,000 cut • Ottawa (Ontario) - $1,000,000 cut • Yellowknife (NWT) - $416,00 cut. The single biggest 2006 cut is $5,890,000 in Toronto. Federal officials committed $17.29 to Toronto for fiscal 2006. As of this week, the actual allocation is $11.4 million. Winter 2006 cuts: Entire $134.8 million program to be shut down. The homelessness program, launched in 1999, will die in March of 2007 unless it is renewed by the federal government. If the funding is not renewed by the fall of 2006, then services across Canada will start to wind down programs and lay off staff. Hundreds of valuable services delivered by thousands of experienced staff people will be terminated. It will be a bleak winter for the homeless.
Services / programs funded by federal homelessness program:
Source:
The Wellesley Institute

Statement by the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development
August 17, 2006
OTTAWA — In light of some recent misinformation in the media concerning the availability of funds for the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) under the National Homelessness Initiative (NHI), I'd like to set the record straight and state the Government of Canada's commitment. (...) This Government will continue working with communities to address homelessness across Canada. I agree very much with people like Phil Brown in the City of Toronto, and others, who have said this is a program which generates real results on the ground for people in need. That is why Canada's new government chose to proceed with a one-year extension of the program, in the amount of $ 134.8 million, for 2006-07. (...) Further to the full 2006-07 allocation, I understand that there may be additional needs over and above the $134.8 million committed for this year. I am pleased to confirm that this government is making the $37 million from 2005-06 available for programming this year.

Federal government decides to fund homeless projects (Winnipeg)
August 18, 2006
The federal government did an about-face Friday on funding programs to help the homeless. Ottawa has decided to fund 15 new projects in Winnipeg that were under the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, reversing a decision that upset agencies that house and help homeless people in the city. The money is significant — $4.2 million. (...) [o]n Friday afternoon, federal Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, whose portfolio includes the National Homelessness Initiative, reversed the decision. Now, a $37-million surplus in last year's housing budget will be made available to homelessness projects across the country, including $4.2-million earmarked for the 15 Winnipeg projects.
Source:
CBC News Manitoba

Google Web Search Results:
"Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, cuts"
Google News Search Results:
"Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, cuts"
Source:
Google.ca

Canadian Housing and Renewal Association
Alliance to End Homelessness - Ottawa
Raising the Roof
Shared Learnings on Homelessness
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee
Housing Again
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation

Seven Solutions to Homelessness
Each is working somewhere else, and will save money and lives here
January, 9 2007
Idea One: Trade Fairs for the Homeless
Idea Two: Raise the Welfare Rates
Idea Three: Train Young Workers
Idea Four: Spread the Love Around
Idea Five: Buy a Few Hotels
Idea Six: Give Addicts Time to Heal
Idea Seven: Bring Governments Together
- includes links to six more related articles that appeared in the Tyee during 2006 (scroll down to the bottom of the "Seven Solutions" article)

Source:
The Tyee (independent alternative daily newspaper in BC)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commons’ finance committee calls for housing, homelessness action
December 13, 2006
By: Michael Shapcott
On December 7, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance released its its pre-budget report for 2006 entitled Canada: Competing to Win. [See the links to that report below] Michael Shapcott appeared before the committee earlier in the fall as an expert witness on housing and homelessness on behalf of the Wellesley Institute. On the Wellesley Institute Blog, Michael has posted a brief analysis of the references to and recommendations concerning housing and homelessness in that report. (...) The committee has accepted the key messages from housing and homelessness advocates (that the federal homelessness and housing rehab programs should be extended and that the federal, provincial and territorial governments need to develop a national housing strategy) in their recommendations. (...) There is also a fairly extensive commentary section on housing.
[Michael Shapcott is Senior Fellow in Residence (Public Policy) at the Wellesley Institute and a recognized expert on homelessness and housing.

Source:
The Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
"The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through rigorous community-based research, reciprocal capacity building, and the informing of public policy."

Justice and Injustice :
Homelessness, Crime, Victimization, and the Criminal Justice System (PDF file - 3MB, 200 pages)
Sylvia Novac, Joe Hermer, Emily Paradis, and Amber Kellen
Research Paper
Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto
with the John Howard Society of Toronto
November 2006
[NOTE: the main focus of this study is Toronto, but you'll find other Canadian and international content there also...]

Summary of Selected Report Highlights (PDF file - 36K, 8 pages)
PDF file dated April 24, 2006

Source:
Centre for Urban and Community Studies (University of Toronto)
John Howard Society of Toronto

World Habitat Day 2006 - October 2
http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=490
The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of human settlements and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
Source:
UN Human Settlements Program
http://www.unhabitat.org

---------------------------------------------------

World Habitat Day - The UN Condemns Canada’s Failure to Provide Adequate Housing
http://www.torontotenants.org/habitat-day.htm
Source:
Metro Tenants' Associations
http://www.torontotenants.org/

Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa
The Alliance to End Homelessness is a non-partisan coalition of community stakeholders committed to working collaboratively to end homelessness by gaining and promoting a better understanding of homelessness and advocating for strategies to end it.
---
Selected reports:
From Homeless to Home (video)
From Homeless to Home is one of five ways developed in a project to help the community learn from people who have been homeless in Ottawa and to bring to life for a broad audience the findings from the Panel Study on Homelessness in Ottawa.Through a partnership between the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and the Alliance to End Homelessness, the project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Homelessness and Diversity Issues initiative. The project shares with the broader community answers to these questions – Who is homeless in Ottawa ? How do people move into and out of homelessness? What challenges do they face? How do people become homeless? How can community organizations, governments and people in the community work together to end homelessness?
Fifth Report Card on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa, Jan–Dec 2008
Billions for banks while Ottawa shelters overflow : Children and youth hardest hit (PDF - 40K, 2 pages)
March 30, 2009
Media Release
- evaluates the city’s progress in combating the crisis of homelessness by comparing 2008 with 2007 to provide grades in four areas: housing, income, homelessness and length of shelter stay.
"The 2008 Report Card will report that the total number of men, women, youth and children using shelters shot up over the year. Families alone increased by 15.2%. There were 747 homeless families with 1,179 children under 16 years old in 2008. Perry Rowe, Chair of the Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa, is particularly concerned that not only were more people homeless but they stayed in shelters an average of 51 days in 2008, five days longer than in 2007. The average length of stay in an Ottawa shelter has been increasing since 2006.Since mid-2008, the demand for shelter beds has been surging and Ottawa emergency shelters have been running out of beds every night."
Complete report:
Experiencing Homelessness
Report Card on ENDING Homelessness in Ottawa (PDF - 2.6MB, 16 pages)
March 2009
Annual report card of the Alliance to End Homelessness to track the Ottawa community’s progress in ending homelessness.
[ version française (PDF - 2,6Mo., 16 pages)]
Highlights (PDF - 23K, 1 page)
[ Past report cards - 2004 to 2008 ]

Beyond the Street Conference:
Youth Taking Action on Homelessness in Canada
September 26-29, 2006
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Beyond the Street: Youth & Communities Taking Action on Homelessness was Canada ’s first national conference focusing on youth and homelessness. The conference welcomed close to 250 delegates from all over the country and its activities highlighted existing challenges and emerging trends in youth homelessness and showcased successful Canadian efforts to address them By harnessing the creative energy and ideas of youth, homelessness organizations, and their partners, Beyond the Street brought together key stakeholders to help build the foundation for ongoing national, regional, and local action to respond to homelessness in Canada.

Final report
January 2007
PDF version, no appendices(PDF file - 770K, 29 pages)
PDF version with appendices (PDF File - 7.8MB, 94 pages)

Conference Program (PDF file - 549K, 14 pages)

Finding Room a timely reminder
October 4, 2004
By Carol Goar
"It was no accident that David Hulchanski and Michael Shapcott chose today for the launch of their new book, Finding Room.
This is World Habitat Day, designated by the United Nations to remind humanity that shelter is a basic right. It also happens to be the day Parliament opens in Ottawa. It is no accident that they chose Toronto City Hall for the kick-off. There are few Canadian politicians who are as eloquent on the subject of affordable housing as Mayor David Miller. In his foreword to the book, he writes: "Home isn't where you want to go, it's where you have to go; it's a right not a privilege. Somewhere along the line in Canada, we've allowed this to be forgotten."
- 450 pages, 27 contributors
Source:
The Toronto Star

Related Links:

The Hidden Homeless - includes 10 Facts about the Hidden Homeless - 10 Things You Can Do to Help - Learn More about Raising the Roof - Radio/TV/print ads
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
- TDRC Links to housing and homelessness resources - 50+ links to Canadian, American and international resources
Housing Again - "a site dedicated to putting affordable housing back on the public agenda"

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (Toronto)
The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) provides advice and representation to individuals and groups facing discrimination in housing. CERA co-ordinates the work of the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues (CCPI) in advancing test case litigation dealing with poverty issues in Canada.

Canadian Housing Equality Resources
This website is produced by the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA), an Ontario-based non profit human rights organization that has spent the past 20 years challenging the systemic barriers and discrimination that contribute to homelessness and housing insecurity.
- incl. links to : Advocate's Guide - Human Rights - Tools - Legislation - Case Law - Other Resources
Related link:
Housing rights: A Canadian web site
August 7, 2007
The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) has launched a new web site devoted to housing rights in Canada called Canadian Housing Equality Resources. It's full of interesting and important information, and is designed for everyone from the person (or household) that is experiencing housing discrimination to the housing advocate. Lawyers and legal advocates will find information on legislation and case law. And there are lots of practical tools, like dealing with the media. CERA has been active for two decades on housing issues and is recognized locally, nationally and internationally as an important partner.
Source of this brief review:
Michael Shapcott
The Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]

Street Level Consulting --- "Healing - Empowering - Informing"
"A national forum for issues of homelessness and poverty in Canada"
- incl. links to : About Us (Self Help Resources, Announcements & Upcoming Events, Contact Us) - Tales from the Turf (Stories of Redemption in the innercity) - Rare Treasures (Prose, poems and works of art by our friends) - Bible Studies (Studies on poverty, justice and mercy) - Biographies (Saints past/present) - Books (Recommended books and videos) - Meditations (St. Francis, Mother Theresa, Jean Vanier, Henri Nouwen and others) - News/Articles
(On homelessness, poverty, addictions, mental illness, abuse issues, etc.) - Prayers (Anointed prayers for all seasons) - Tell a Friend (Send our website address to a friend) - Directory of Street ministries across Canada - Related Links

Homelessness Resources on the Web
November 7, 2001
Ginsler & Associates Inc., a consulting firm focusing on organizational development and community planning, has just updated the “Free Resources” page on its Web site. The new additions include over eighty documents relating to homelessness. Included are research studies, strategies for preventing homelessness, strategies for providing services to homeless people, and many items on creating affordable housing.
Source:
Ginsler & Associates - "Building Strong Communities Through Strong Organizations"

Homelessness Research Virtual Library (University of British Columbia)
"The homelessness research virtual library was created in response to a call from stakeholders for easier access to homelessness research information. The Virtual Library website provides immediate access to past and current homelessness research from the province of British Columbia and the Yukon. The project is a partnership between the University of British Columbia, Human Resources Development Canada and Shelter Net BC."
- this site offers links to 100+ abstracts and full reports, mostly dealing with the BC situation, that you can search by : Author - Organization - Title - Location of Research - Publication Year - Subjects (Population) - Subjects (Keywords) - Subjects (Research Type)

Also about BC:

Housing Thousands of Women (focus on British Columbia)
By the Women's Housing Action Team (University of Victoria)
"On December 1, 2005, the Women's Housing Action Team and the University of Victoria released a major report, Housing Thousands of Women. There are two parts to the report: (1) Original research on housing experiences and requirements of older women, aboriginal, immigrant, and women living with disability, and (2) Policy implications for housing women, in particularly a graphic "Women's Housing Wheel" on the requirements for housing according to the realities and experiences of women."

Complete report:

Housing Thousands of Women: An edited collection
of the works of the Women’s Housing Action Team (PDF file - 1.3MB, 129 pages)
December 2005.

Source:
Studies in Policy and Practice Program (SPP) at the University of Victoria
Quality of Life CHALLENGE - "Demonstrating Care and Respect for Each Other, Our Community and the Environment"
The Quality of Life CHALLENGE is a comprehensive community initiative in British Columbia's capital region that brings people together to create solutions in the areas of housing, sustainable incomes, and community connections.

Homelessness in Vancouver
During the 1990's homelessness emerged as a major issue in communities across Canada. In Metro Vancouver, homelessness continues to be a complex and growing problem. The 2005 Homeless Count for Greater Vancouver showed that homelessness in the region doubled between 2002 and 2005. The Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness (RSCH) formed and now includes over 40 members representing service providers, community-based organizations, business and all levels of government. The RSCH developed and oversees the implementation of the Regional Homelessness Plan for Greater Vancouver.

2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count
The 2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count took place during a 24-hour period on the night of Monday March 10th and the daytime of Tuesday, March 11th 2008. (...) The purpose of the 2008 Homeless Count is to produce an updated estimate of the street and sheltered homeless, a demographic profile of this population, and identify trends in relation to previous counts. This information is then used to aid in service planning and inform policy development. Initial results indicated a total of 2,592 individuals enumerated, representing a 19% increase from the 2005 count and a 137% increase from the 2002 count. The final results now confirm a total of 2,660 homeless people; a 22% increase from 2005. The final report data was released September 16th, 2008.

Results of the 2008 Metro Vancouver
Homeless Count (PDF - 1.1MB, 77 pages)
September 16, 2008

Source:
Metro Vancouver
Metro Vancouver comprises four separate corporate entities operating under one name;
it includes 22 member municipalities and one electoral area.

2010 Homeless Champions
(Life in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver)
"This website is dedicated to telling the stories of the unfortunate individuals living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver in the hope that awareness of this problem will spur people to get involved, to let all levels of government know that something has to be done to alleviate this misery rooted in addiction, homelessness and depravity. To point the way to recovery from addiction, which we believe is the root of most of this situation. With the 2010 Olympics coming to Vancouver it is our mandate to record the transition and the extreme changes that are even now occurring and will continue to unfold in the Downtown Eastside."

2005 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count
September 2005

Complete report:

On our streets and in our shelters…
Results of the 2005 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count (PDF file - 1.2MB, 53 pages)
September 2005
Report produced by:
Michael Goldberg
Social Planning and Research Council of BC
[This report was produced for the Greater Vancouver Regional District - see the link below]

High(low)lights:

2005 Homeless Count Bulletin (PDF file - 140K, 4 pages)
- the number of street homeless in Vancouver regions increased 235% between 2002 and 2005, from 330 people to 1105 people.
- the number of homeless people has almost doubled since 2002, to 2,174 persons in 2005.
- the number of street homeless has grown by 238% or almost 800 persons since the last count in 2002.
- People with Aboriginal identity make up 2% of the population of Vancouver, but they represent 30% of the region’s homeless.
- Homeless seniors 55 and over grew from 51 persons in 2002 to 171 persons in 2005.

Source:
Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
"The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) is a partnership of 21 municipalities and one electoral area that make up the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver."

GVRD - Regional Homelessness Reports
- incl. links to the Homeless Count 2005 reports (March and September 2005), Census Bulletin - At-Risk of Homelessness (April 2005), the 2004/2005 Inventory of Lower Mainland Shelters, and more...

Welfare rolls down, homelessness up
New report blames provincial changes to eligibility rules for Vancouver's worsening situation
By Rod Mickleburgh
May 26, 2005
VANCOUVER -- Provincial government changes to welfare rules have doubled the severity of Vancouver's dire and growing homeless problem, according to the city's policy co-ordinator for the homeless. Jill Davidson said new requirements for receiving welfare the Liberals brought in are too onerous and bureaucratic for many of those eligible to receive social assistance. 'We think we could probably almost halve the number of people on the street if you just got people on welfare who were eligible for welfare,' said Ms. Davidson, the author of a 100-page report and action plan to eliminate homelessness in Vancouver within 10 years."
Source:
The Globe and Mail

Report lays out new strategy for homeless - Vancouver
By Mike Howell-Staff writer
May 23, 2005
"Increase mental health and addiction services, build more social housing and make changes to the province's employment and assistance program. Those are the key priorities to reducing homelessness as outlined in a lengthy city report, Homeless Action Plan, going before city council May 25 at a public meeting. Written by senior housing planner Jill Davidson, who has worked on the plan for more than a year, the report comes at a time when the streets are filling up with homeless people. The city's conservative estimates are that 600 people sleep on the streets in the winter months and up to 1,200 in the summer. That's double the number from three years ago."
Source:
The Vancouver Courier

Complete report:

Vancouver Homeless Action Plan (PDF file - 1.2MB, 105 pages)
By Jill Davidson
Homeless Policy Coordinator
Housing Centre
May 2005
Source:
The Housing Centre - City of Vancouver Community Services
The Housing Centre delivers social housing projects and undertakes policy and program development. The Tenant Assistance Program provides direct assistance to displaced tenants and homeless individuals in the City.
[City of Vancouver]

More Housing Centre Council reports - links to dozens more reports on housing and homelessness in Vancouver produced in the past few years by the Housing Centre.

Related links:

It’s time to raise your voice for affordable housing!
June 12, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Housing Network of Ontario has an on-line hub that is regularly being updated with the latest news, reports from community meetings, tips for actions and plenty of other resources. Here’s some of the new material: Community report from Sault Ste. Marie: Notes from the preparatory meeting of housing leaders in the Soo on June 11; Building from the community up: Five practical tips for action; Homeless-making processes: A worksheet from Dr. David Hulchanski; Local housing audits: Quick tips on preparing housing audit for your community; Fixing Ontario’s affordable housing crisis: A presentation from Harvey Cooper, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada – Ontario Region.
More than 225 people and groups have already endorsed the Housing Network of Ontario’s on-line declaration: “We believe everyone in Ontario has the right to live poverty-free and with dignity in housing that is stable, adequate, equitably accessible and affordable…" Read the full declaration and add your endorsement on the site. Also on the HNO web site: You can tell your housing story; find plenty of helpful resources; tell us what’s happening in your community and find out what is happening in other places; and learn more about the Housing Network of Ontario.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Also from the Wellesley Institute:

Taking action as Ontario gets set to launch provincial housing consultation
May 31, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Housing Network of Ontario is continuing to prepare for the Ontario's government's consultations for a comprehensive new provincial housing plan. The government is expected to announce details of the provincial consultation in the next few days. The Wellesley Institute is a founding member of the Housing Network of Ontario and we have launched a new web site to help people and groups across the province learn about the key issues and get engaged in the consultation. The Toronto Star's Laurie Monsebraaten has set out some of the key issues in the following article:

Activists set to push for housing
May 30, 2009
By Laurie Monsebraaten
"(...) Across the province, almost 130,000 households are waiting for provincially subsidized housing with wait times that run from several years to several decades, depending on the location. It's a problem the McGuinty Liberals promised to address during the 2007 provincial election. But their pledge to develop a long-term affordable housing strategy was put on hold while they crafted a poverty reduction plan. With a provincial plan now in place to cut child poverty by 25 per cent in five years and poverty reduction legislation enacted last month, housing activists are gearing up for the government to turn its attention to people [who are on provincial subsidized housing lists]."
Source:
The Toronto Star

-------------------------------------------------
A related link about the
"Ontario Housing Measure":
-------------------------------------------------

Suggestions for an Indicator to Measure Trends in Housing Induced Poverty (PDF - 313K, 11 pages)
This report is ONPHA’s contribution to assist the government in defining the “Ontario Housing Measure” – one of eight key measures to be used in determining the effectiveness of the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Author: ONPHA
May 11, 2009
Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
ONPHA gives non profit-housing tools to do the best possible job. ONPHA offers a comprehensive list of programs and services. We are advocates for our members with all members of government; we deliver courses, workshops and resources for volunteer boards, staff and tenants; help members save money through our Best Deals program; work toward building networks locally and provincially to ensure that non-profit housing has a respected voice in the community; and we fight to get more new affordable housing built in Ontario.

---
Affordable housing - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- incl. overviews of affordable housing in the US, the UK and Canada (only Ontario)
---

From The Toronto Star:

Homeless tide sure to rise
July 31, 2010
By Nick Falvo
You can step over homeless people, but you can’t ignore them. The recession is finally over, but we haven’t seen all of the after-effects, especially when we’re talking about homelessness. And if our political leaders don’t come to terms with this soon, we’ll see a steep rise in homelessness in the near future. The homeless population of a given jurisdiction is typically the last group to see a change after a recession, making homelessness the opposite of the proverbial canary in a mine shaft.
Source:
The Toronto Star
Nick Falvo is a PhD candidate at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. A longer version of this article was presented at this year’s annual conference of the Canadian Economics Association (May 28-30, Quebec City). See the next link below.

Related link:

Calm Before the Storm:
The Great Recession’s Impact on Homelessness (PDF - 299K, 23 pages)
By Nick Falvo, Carleton University
Paper Presentation to the
44th Annual Conference of the
Canadian Economics Association
May 28-30, 2010
Quebec City
Recessions are much more than a numerical change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or another term for high unemployment. The full impact of a recession takes many years to completely unfold and a recession’s impact on households and communities is neither straightforward nor immediate. The homeless population of a given jurisdiction is one of the last groups to see a change after the onset of a recession, making homelessness the opposite of the proverbial canary in the mine shaft.
(...) The purpose of this essay is to explain how recessions have traditionally impacted homelessness. It will then discuss the current recession with a focus on Toronto, Canada. Toronto is the focus in part because, with a population of roughly 2.6 million people (5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area), it is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government.

Buddy can you spare a home?
April 5, 2008
By Laurie Monsebraaten
More than 66,000 individuals and families in Toronto are on the list for subsidized apartments in these buildings – a number city officials say would take 66 years to serve at the current rate of affordable housing construction. They are the tip of a veritable iceberg of need in a city where an estimated 200,000 low-income households spend more than 30 per cent of their income on rent and another 4,000 sleep in homeless shelters every night.

Ottawa must commit on housing: Province
April 5, 2008
By Laurie Monsebraaten
A Toronto plan to provide safe, affordable homes for more than 200,000 vulnerable families and individuals in the next 10 years may never get off the ground if Ottawa doesn't contribute, warns Ontario Housing Minister Jim Watson.

Video presentations from Ontario housing summit
in Toronto (May 11, 2009)
May 14, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
About 100 housing leaders from across Ontario gathered in Toronto on May 11 for the Housing Network of Ontario's first provincial summit. The group is preparing for the upcoming consultation by the Ontario government to create a province-wide, comprehensive affordable housing plan. More info on the consultation, key resources and a special place to tell your housing stories is available here. The Wellesley Institute is working with a number of provincial and local groups to ensure that Ontario gets a solid and realistic housing plan that ensures everyone has a healthy and affordable home.
Links to the key presentations at the forum
(YouTube videos):
* Affordability and income (Ann Fitzpatrick)
* Housing supply and stock (Harvey Cooper)
* Supportive housing (Phillip Dufresne)
* Housing indicators and measures (Lynne Browne)
* Housing / homelessness report card (Lynne Browne)

Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]

From the Government of Ontario:

Helping Families In Need:
McGuinty Government To Increase Ontario Child Benefit And Invest In Affordable Housing
March 20, 2009
Ontario is doing more to support low income families facing challenging economic times. The government is proposing to increase the Ontario Child Benefit this July, from $600 to a maximum of $1,100 per child per year. The Ontario Child Benefit helps 1.3 million children by giving moms and dads monthly support. Ontario is also planning to increase its investment in social and affordable housing to create short-term jobs in construction and renovation while improving the lives of people with low-incomes. Working with the federal government, Ontario would renovate 50,000 social housing units and build 4,500 new affordable housing units through a joint investment of $1.2 billion.
Source:
Newsroom - Ontario.ca

Related link:

Ontario makes substantial down payment on new provincial housing plan
March 20, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Ontario has made a substantial down payment to meet the housing needs of tens of thousands of people who are precariously housed or homeless. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and housing minister Jim Watson have announced plans today to invest $624.5 million over the next two years in affordable housing initiatives. When combined with matching federal dollars, it amounts to more than $1.2 billion. (...) Today’s provincial housing announcement meets the first priority set out by the Wellesley Institute in our 2009 budget recommendations to the Government of Ontario, which was to fully match federal affordable housing dollars. But provincial housing investments still lag behind the deep and persistent need across the province, and Ontario is lagging behind provides such as Alberta in making commitments for urgently needed new housing investments.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Where's Home? - declining prospects in Ontario
March 3, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
As Ontario continues its slide into one of the deepest recessions in 50 years, the income gap between renters and home owners in the province continues to increase. This worrisome trend, combined with low vacancy rates in many areas and long waiting lists for social housing across the province, highlights the need for increased investment in affordable housing to protect families and create jobs, according to a report released on Monday. The eighth annual edition of Where’s Home? A Picture of Housing Needs in Ontario (2008) authored by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) Ontario Region, analyzes 22 separate housing markets across Ontario.
Comment found in:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Complete report:

Where’s Home?
A Picture of Housing Needs in Ontario, 2008 (PDF - 1.8MB, 66 pages)
March 2009
"(...) Since 1999, the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) have collaborated on Where’s Home?, a periodic report on the state of rental housing markets and rental housing affordability in 22 selected housing markets and the Province as a whole. As we have been tracking information on the rental market for several years, our analysis provides not only a snapshot of today’s rental housing markets and housing affordability, but also a picture of trends over the longer term. This report focuses on vacancy rates, rental housing production, changes in rents, incomes and housing affordability."
Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada)

2008 Market Summaries - Ontario (PDF - 487K, 111 pages)
Detailed information for each of 22 Census Areas (CAs) and Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) in Ontario
- includes ten-year comparisons of a number of variables, including vacancy rates, changes in average rents compared to inflation, rent increases for a 2-bedroom apartment, proportion of income spent on housing, average household incomes of owners and tenants, ownership and rental housing completions, and more

Confirmed: Deepening rental housing crisis in Canada, Ontario, Toronto
December 11, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has confirmed this morning what Canada’s 3.9 million renter households already know: Private rental housing has slipped into a much deeper crisis. The national rental vacancy rate has dropped by a staggering 15% over the past year down to a critically low 2.2% - the lowest level in six years. Across Canada, rents are rising faster than the rate of inflation.
- incl. highlights from the national, Ontario and Toronto rental market numbers
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Coalition releases innovative plan to address housing poverty
[missing link]
News Release
November 17, 2008
TORONTO – A coalition of private, public and non-profit housing associations, community organizations, academics, and foundations released a proposal today for a new housing benefit for low-income Ontarians. The proposal, outlined in A Housing Benefit for Ontario: One Housing Solution for a Poverty Reduction Strategy, recommends a new income benefit that will help low-income, working age renters with high shelter costs in communities across Ontario. The proposal would add a necessary affordable housing component to Ontario’s highly anticipated Poverty Reduction Strategy, expected in December.

A Housing Benefit for Ontario
One Housing Solution for a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PDF - 255K, 30 pages)
November 2008
"(...)The proposed benefit pays an average of $103 per month to an estimated 66,000 families and 129,000 individual and couple households. The amount of the benefit is based on a formula that pays 75% of shelter costs between a floor and a ceiling that varies by community size. The housing benefit is reduced as income rises."

Housing Benefit Summary (PDF - 57K, 2 pages)

Housing Benefit Q & A (PDF - 44K, 5 pages)

Source:
Proposal submitted to the Province of Ontario by a coalition of industry and community organizations:
Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association
Greater Toronto Apartments Association (no website found)
Metcalf Charitable Foundation
Atkinson Charitable Foundation
Daily Bread Food Bank
===> see the Daily Bread Food Bank Publications page for related links...

Hefty housing costs stay local in "good news / bad news" provincial funding deal
October 31, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
Good news: The Ontario government, along with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto, jointly announced earlier today a plan to upload the costs of several provincial income assistance programs back to the provincial level over the next decade. This will give municipalities some significant fiscal breathing room – as it takes the cost of this income-distributive program off the municipal tax base and returns it to the provincial tax base, where it belongs. The timing is good as the demand for income assistance programs may well increase with the current economic crisis. Bad news: The cost of the provincial social housing program – which was downloaded to municipalities under the former Harris government starting in 1998 – remains at the local level.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through community-based research , community engagement , and the informing of public policy.

-----
Some contextual information:
* Ontario is the only Canadian province that still requires a direct municipal government contribution towards the cost of providing welfare (known as the Ontario Works Program or OW) to the able-bodied needy population residing within their municipal boundaries. Municipalities pay 20% of the total OW bill on their territory.
* Last-resort financial assistance for people with disabilities is provided under the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Municipalities also pay 20% of the total ODSP bill on their territory.
* The Ontario Government has already announced that the cost of ODSP will be gradually be transferred to the provincial government between 2009 and 2011.
-----

Related links:

Province Eases Financial Pressures on Municipalities and Property Taxpayers
Provincial and municipal partners reach agreement
News Release
October 31, 2008
The McGuinty government is moving to upload all social assistance benefits and court security costs from municipalities, as stated in an agreement announced today by the Province of Ontario, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the City of Toronto.

Complete report:

Report of the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal
and Service Delivery Review - Facing the Future Together (PDF - 1.6MB, 64 pages)
Fall 2008
Source:
Provincial Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review
[ Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing ]

Commission launches report calling for collective housing strategy
News Release
July 8, 2008
Toronto - Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall and the Ontario Human Rights Commission today launched “Right at home: Report on the consultation on human rights and rental housing in Ontario.” This report, which follows a year of public sessions, meetings and submissions involving hundreds of individuals and organizations across the province, focuses on housing as a human right, and sets out a framework for collective action to identify, remove and prevent discrimination in rental housing.
* includes links to five backgrounders

RIGHT AT HOME : Report on the
consultation on human rights and rental housing in Ontario (PDF - 460K, 107 pages)
Approved by the Commission: May 28, 2008

Soure:
Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC)

More OHRC housing resources - incl. backgrounders, consultation paper, background paper and more...

Related link:

Powerful historic report links housing rights to housing action
July 8, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
The Ontario Human Rights Commission, an independent agency that reports to the provincial Legislature, released a dynamic new report today called “Right at Home” that is both historic and ground-breaking. The report draws powerful links between international housing rights – which have been ratified by the Canadian government – and Ontario’s desperate crisis of housing insecurity and homelessness.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]

Cathy Crowe's Home Page
- About Cathy Crowe, Street Nurse
"I've been a street nurse in Toronto for 17 years. In the spring of 2004 I received the Atkinson Economic Justice Award which permits me to pursue, for up to three years, my passions for nursing and working on homelessness and housing issues. In this newsletter I hope to report on my activities, create a link to a broader group of individuals who care about these social issues and encourage critical debate. (...) I want to hear from you - about the newsletter, about things that are happening in the homelessness sector (what a sad term!), and about good things which will provide inspiration for all of us." (Cathy Crowe)

Cathy Crowe's Monthly Newsletter
#44 - April 2008 Newsletter
Table of contents:
1. Home is more than four walls.
2. Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion - Put down the Guns and pick up the Hammers and Nails!
3. Who’s Hot, Who’s Not!
PDF version of this newsletter (393K, 8 pages)

Newsletter Archive - links to newsletter issues back to the summer of 2007, PLUS a link (at the bottom of the page) to all issues back to #1 in 2004

To subscribe to Cathy's Monthly Newsletter,
send an email message to crowenews@sherbourne.on.ca

Source:
Cathy Crowe's website
Cathy Crowe has been a street nurse in Toronto for 19 years. She received the Atkinson Economic Justice Award which permits her to pursue her passions for nursing and working on homelessness and housing issues. In this newsletter she reports on her activities, she creates a link to a broader group of individuals who care about these social issues, and she encourages critical debate.

------------------------

Cathy Crowe's Newsletter - issue #42 - February 2008
In this issue of her newsletter, Toronto street nurse Cathy Crowe reports on "a radical technology that will make great strides in solving the problem of global homelessness"; you can also read her January 2008 presentation on poverty hunger and homelessness to the provincial budget consultation; and finally, she appears somewhat skeptical with respect the prognostications of by Philip Mangano, America’s so-called ‘Homeless Czar’, who allegedly told the Edmonton Sun recently that Alberta's capital city can wipe out homelessness within a decade. Cathy wonders whether Canadians should be looking South for inspiration for solutions when there is plenty of evidence that there is an ongoing hunger and affordable housing crisis in most large American cities. She draws specific evidence from the latest report on hunger and homelessness from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which decries growing food insecurity and homelessness across the United States. (The link to the mayors' report appears further below in this newsletter.)

Federal funding for aboriginal housing, education 'woefully inadequate': Ontario
McGuinty: Flaherty's wrong about Ont.
By Chinta Puxley
March 19, 2008
TORONTO - Ottawa is "woefully" underfunding First Nations communities when it comes to housing, health care and education, and provinces aren't rich enough to pick up the slack, Ontario's aboriginal affairs minister said Wednesday.
Source:
C-News (CANOE)

2007 Forum on Social Housing and Homelessness for
Service Managers, Shelter Providers and Front Line Staff (PDF file - 1.3MB, 25 pages)
September 18–20, 2007
Toronto, Ontario
"(...)The theme for this year’s forum, “It Starts with Us”, is reflected in the main message within the keynote addresses and workshops being offered over the two-and-a-half- day forum. Delegates who deliver municipal social housing and homelessness services as well as shelter and hostel representatives from across Ontario can expect to come away from this forum with tools, resources and concrete examples of partnerships, as well as a renewed sense of the importance of collaboration as they pursue the goal of healthy communities and a home for all Ontarians."

Source:/
Ontario Municipal Social Services Association

Ontario’s housing allowance plan
violates federal operating principles
April 5, 2007
Ontario’s $185 million housing allowance plan, announced in the 2007 provincial budget on March 22 and funded entirely with federal affordable housing trust fund dollars, violates the operating principles tabled by federal finance minister Jim Flaherty in the House of Commons in May of 2006

Ontario desperately seeking affordable apartments
Media Release
March 14, 2007
Toronto – There are not enough apartments to rent in Ontario and those that are available are unaffordable for the average worker. These are the findings of “Where’s Home? 2006: A Picture of Housing Need in Ontario.” The report is produced by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and the Cooperative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF).

Where's Home 2006:
A Picture of Housing Needs in Ontario (PDF file - 262K, 45 pages)
March 2007
This latest in a series of reports co-produced by ONPHA and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, Ontario Council finds that there aren't enough apartments available in Ontario, and those that are available are unaffordable for the average worker

Fact Sheet (PDF file - 17K, 1 page)
Undated (PDF file is dated March 14/07)

Earlier reports in this series - back to 1999

Sources:

Cooperative Housing Federation of Canada
The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) is the organized voice of the Canadian co-operative housing movement. We exist to unite, represent and serve the community of housing co-operatives across Canada and member organizations that support their operation and development.

Ontario Non-profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
ONPHA is the voice of non-profit housing in Ontario. ONPHA unites 770 non-profit organizations providing housing in 220 communities across Ontario. Our members include municipal and private non-profits of all sizes, with all types of funding.

Related links:

The Wellesley Institute Blog

Issue Pages: Housing and Homelessness
- incl. links to key online resources, presentations and blog entries on this issue

Affordable Housing - from the Ontario Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs

A housing policy win - more homes on the way!
February 28, 2007
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Tuesday that the provincial government is going to start the flow of $392.5 million in federal funding to build new affordable homes in Ontario. Sounds pretty simple - all the province is required to do is get out of the way and let the federal money flow to housing developers across the province

Related link:

Fourteen cents a day won’t build many homes (PDF file - 150K, 6 pages)
February 2007
By Michael Shapcott
The Ontario government spends about 14 cents per person per day on affordable housing — less than half the amount spent in 2000 — even though the province’s population and its housing needs continue to grow significantly. The low level of spending means the government has been able to fund only a fraction of the new homes it promised in 2003. And those targets from 2003 were already modest, when set against the desperate province-wide need for affordable homes.
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - Ontario Office

from The Wellesley Institute:

Provincial Pre-Budget Submission on Housing and Homelessness (PDF file - 60K, 4 pages)
08 Dec 2006
The costs of Ontario's affordable housing crisis and homelessness disaster to individuals, communities and government are enormous, yet Ontario's housing spending has been dropping sharply since 2000 and is currently at 14 cents per person per day. The Wellesley Institute, in our provincial pre-budget submission on housing and homelessness, is calling on the Ontario government to:
o honour the housing commitments that it made in 2003;
o stop blocking the $392.5 million in stalled federal housing dollars;
o and, upload the cost of housing back to the provincial level and increase overall housing spending to 25 cents per capita per day as a first step to ramping up housing spending to meet housing need.

Gimme shelter:
Finding a home in Ontario (PDF file - 1MB, 32 pages)
By Michael Shapcott
April 7, 2005
For:
Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition

In a Nutshell: Housing Reform in the 80's and 90s, the Feds and the Ontario government all on one presentation page.

"What those men did. . .

Federal:
..1984 to 1993 –almost $2 billion cut from spending
..1993 –all new housing spending cancelled
..1996 –transfer housing to provinces / territories

Ontario:
..1995 –all new housing spending cancelled
..1995 –welfare rate cuts
..1998 –housing downloaded to municipalities."
[p. 17 from the report ]

$402 Million for Affordable Housing Allocated to Communities in Ontario
"TORONTO, August 31, 2005 — The Governments of Canada and Ontario have allocated $402 million to municipalities as a first wave of funding under the new $602 million Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program. This allocation will produce 5,320 new units of affordable housing, and provide rent subsidies for up to 5,000 lower-income households."
- includes a backgrounder with more detailed info on the "Wave 1 Allocations (Fall 2005)" --- showing the number of units affected and the funding allocation for each of Ontario's municipal regions with respect to new affordable housing units and housing allowances/rent supplements
Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Related Links:

City of Toronto - includes a link to the same release and backgrounder as you'll find on the CHMC and MAH sites above - PLUS a link to the Memorandum of Understanding (small PDF file) signed by partners CMHC, MAH, Ontario municipalities (as represented by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario) and the City of Toronto, in the implementation of the Agreement.

Allocation announcement starts the ball rolling on new Affordable Housing Program
August 31, 2005
Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association

Ontario Government Increases Support For Homeless
Addresses Shelter Shortfall And Tops Up Prevention Programs
News Release
February 8, 2005
"TORONTO — The Ontario government is providing communities across the province with additional funding for essential services for people who are homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless, Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello confirmed today. (...) In total, the province spends almost $135 million each year on services that protect the homeless, and programs to prevent people from becoming homeless."

Backgrounders:

* Helping The Homeless In Ontario
* Provincial Funding For The Consolidated Homelessness Prevention Program By Urban Center

Source:
Ministry of Community and Social Services

From the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing:

McGuinty Government Announces New Affordable Housing Strategy
Providing Variety of Housing Assistance with Comprehensive Approach
News Release
April 29, 2005
"TORONTO — The McGuinty government today signed a new Affordable Housing Agreement with the federal government as part of its comprehensive affordable housing strategy."

Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program
Housing Research Reports

From the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation(CMHC):

$602 Million Allocated for Affordable Housing in Ontario
News Release
"TORONTO, April 29, 2005 — The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario today signed an Affordable Housing Agreement, which will commit $602 million over the next four years to increase the supply of affordable housing in the province.The agreement was signed today by the Honourable Joe Fontana, Minister of Labour and Housing, and the Honourable David Caplan, Ontario's Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. The federal/provincial agreement includes a commitment of $301 million from each level of government.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Needy families to get help with rent
News Release
April 29, 2005
"Ontario is getting back into the affordable housing business today with the announcement of a $602 million provincial-federal deal. Sources say the $602 million, which will start flowing this fall, will build 15,000 affordable housing units and provide rent supplements to 5,000 needy families across Ontario. There are about 150,000 Ontario families awaiting affordable housing. In Toronto alone, there are 63,000 families on the waiting list."
Source:
The Toronto Star

------------------------

Google.ca News Search Results : "Canada, Ontario, affordable housing agreement"
Google.ca Web Search Results : "Canada, Ontario, affordable housing agreement"
Source:
Google.ca

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November 02, 2004
Housing Report Update: Rising Food Bank Use Linked to Tenant Protection Act (PDF file - 142K, 3 pages)
"Daily Bread has taken a closer look at our research statistics to determine the correlation between rent increases and food bank use. The results are included in the attached an update to our August report on housing. The data shows that there is a strong link between rising food bank use and the Tenant Protection Act. "
Source:
Publications
[ Daily Bread Food Bank ]
More links to recent Daily Bread reports (this link takes you further down on the page you're now reading)

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Low Income Energy Network:

Share the Warmth (STW)
Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA)
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto (CSPC-T)
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA)

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Your Utility Costs: Ontario Hydro electricity prices, water and natural gas rates
- written for tenants but provides a comprehensive collection of information for anyone interested in utility costs in Ontario
- over 300 links to information (mainly newspaper articles) about Ontario Hydro privatization, deregulation of electricity in Ontario, electricity rates, and hydro electricity contracts

More Ontario Hydro electricity privatization and deregulation links
- over 700 links on this page (mainly newspaper articles)

Related Links:

Higher electricity costs hit poor the hardest
Advocates call for energy discounts Ontario to set new pricing formula
September 11, 2004
"Higher electricity prices in Ontario will hammer the poor and leave the wealthy relatively unscathed, a coalition of social activist groups have told an Ontario Energy Board hearing. The lowest income families are far more likely than their wealthier neighbours to use electricity to heat their homes and hot water, Mary Todorow of the Low Income Energy Network told the board yesterday. Because they're far likelier to be tenants, they probably can't curb power use by buying more efficient appliances, heating systems or insulation."
Source:
The Toronto Star

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Homeless women 'crisis'
In Toronto, they're dying at 10 times the normal rate
AIDS, drugs, suicide common causes, researchers find
April 13, 2004
Elaine Carey
"Homeless women in Toronto are dying at 10 times the rate of other women between 18 and 44, according to a new study released today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal."
Source:
The Toronto Star

Risk of death among homeless women: a cohort study and review of the literature
April 13, 2004
Angela M. Cheung and Stephen W. Hwang
Abstract
Complete article:
HTML version
PDF version (146K, 5 pages)

Related Links:

Canadian Medical Association Journal

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Dying in the shadows: the challenge of providing health care for homeless people
Commentary on the article by Cheung and Hwang
By James O'Connell (Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School)
April 13, 2004
HTML version
PDF version (172K, 2 pages)

Somewhere to Live or Something to Eat: Housing Issues of Food Bank Clients in the Greater Toronto Area
August 2, 2004
- based on housing statistics from the Daily Bread Food Bank's Annual Survey of Food Bank Clients.
"This 22-page paper looks at the key housing issues affecting food bank clients. Set against the context of the Welfare Rates cut in 1995 and the Tenant Protection Act in 1998, the paper focuses on rent and income problems many food bank clients are facing now. (...) It is particularly timely given that the Ontario government has just completed its consultation process for new landlord-tenant legislation and is currently engaged in writing a new act in which new rent control guidelines will be established. This paper should be viewed as a contribution to that process."

Complete Report (PDF file - 766K, 22 pages)
Summary of Housing Report (PDF file - 24K, 2 pages)

Source:
Publications
[ Daily Bread Food Bank ]

Building Strong Communities: Rent Reform (summer 2003)
The Residential Tenancy Reform Consultation Paper (PDF file - 651K, 48 pages)
Summary (PDF file - 358K, 20 pages)
Online Questionnaire
Town Hall Meetings (schedule)
Current Residential Tenancy Reform News
Source:
Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing
Related Links:
Policy Options for Rent Regulation and Tenant Protection in Ontario
Policy Options Forum
November 13, 2003
"A policy options forum on rent regulation, tenant protection and related issues was held on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003. This event was sponsored by the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto and the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario. Julia McNally, Kenn Hale and David Hulchanski are among the policy experts who presented an overview of the issues and potential solutions."
- includes links to over two dozen documents: papers from the Forum, the Ontario Liberal Party's 2003 election promises, recommendations for tenant law reform, context: rental housing problems
Source:
Centre for Urban and Community Studies
[ University of Toronto ]

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McGuinty Government Delivers Real, Positive Change Through Provincial Rent Bank Program
March 29, 2004
"TORONTO -The McGuinty government is delivering real, positive change by setting up a new Provincial Rent Bank program that will help low-income tenants with short-term arrears so they can stay in their homes."
FAQ's Energy Emergency Fund - (Word file - 33K, 2 pages)
Provincial Rent Bank Program For Short-Term Rent Arrears (March 29 News Release - Ministry of Community and Social Services)
McGuinty Government Assisting Low-Income Families With Energy Emergencies (March 29 Backgrounder - Ministry of Community and Social Services)
Provincial Rent Bank Program - Municipal FAQs - from Municipal Affairs and Housing

Google News search Results : "Provincial Rent Bank Program - Ontario"
Google Web Search Results : "Provincial Rent Bank Program - Ontario"
Source:
Google.ca

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New Legislation to Reduce Rent Hikes
Misnamed "Tenant Protection Act" to be replaced by real protection
April 20, 2004
"TORONTO — The McGuinty government will introduce legislation to suspend the automatic two per cent base portion of annual rent increases for tenants in 2005, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Gerretsen announced today. If passed, the legislation will provide a "time out" while the government consults with tenants and landlords on replacing the previous government's misnamed 'Tenant Protection Act'. (...)
Consultations to replace the current Act will commence immediately with a view to placing legislation before the House this fall. Ontarians can provide their views through town hall meetings, e-consultation and stakeholder meetings until June 15, 2004."
Building Strong Communities: Rent Reform (Ontario)

The Economics of Homelessness
"We know that the cost of homelessness is high, too high. But did you know it costs a fortune to keep someone homeless? Here are some statistics which were prepared by the Community Partners Program of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in 1999:

Monthly Housing Costs for One Person

Type of Housing	Cost per Month
Correctional Facility: Adult Correctional Facility: Young Offender General Hospitalization Psychiatric Facility Shelter/Hostel: $30 to $70 per day Homeless (health, police, support costs)	$3,720 $7,917 $4,500 $10,800 $900 - $2,100 $4,583

Source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 1999

Compare these figures to the monthly cost of providing a new non-profit unit - $1,080 according to the Ministry. Even the monthly carrying costs of a new condo unit are less than the cost of keeping someone homeless!"
Source : Parkdale Community Legal Services (Toronto)

State of the Crisis, 2003: Ontario housing policies are de-housing Ontarians
Ontario Alternative Budget 2003 Technical Paper #2
by Michael Shapcott
March 2003
Complete report (HTML) - incl. highlights, news release
(from the Disabled Women's Network - Ontario website)
Complete report (PDF file - 450K, 18 pages)
Report Highlights
News release - March 14, 2003
Source:
CCPA Ontario
[CCPA - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives]

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DAWN DisAbled Women's Network - Ontario

Federal-Ontario housing update - September 2002
Housing and Homelessness Network in Ontario
Source :

A primer on the federal-Ontario housing deal: Three key questions on the plan for 10,000 new units
Media Advisory
May 26, 2002
National Housing & Homelessness Network
Source : DAWN DisAbled Women's Network - Ontario

Province-by-province update: Nine of ten fail to make the grade
Report Card
May 15, 2002
"All ten provinces signed the Affordable Housing Framework Agreement in Quebec City in November of 2001. The federal government agreed to provide $680 million over five years for new affordable housing. The provinces agreed to match the federal funds, although the Quebec City deal gives them "wiggle room" to get credit for spending by third parties."
- only Quebec has fully matched federal funds
- only Quebec and British Columbia have signed agreements
- five of ten provinces have cut housing spending

Related Links:

Raising the Roof
"Canada's only national charity dedicated to long-term solutions to homelessness"

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Homeless Squeeze
May 21, 2002
"Secret video from a Toronto homeless shelter shows people packed into spaces tighter than United Nations standards for refugee camps."
Source : rabble.ca

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Messages from Queen’s Park positive, despite careful Throne Speech
November 21, 2003
"The Speech from the Throne, while short on specifics or funding information, reiterated some important housing commitments on the part of the Province, including more affordable housing, improvements in second-stage housing for victims of domestic abuse, new rent control legislation and help creating a new deal for cities."
Source:
Ontario Non-profit Housing Association (ONPHA)
For more links to info about the McGuinty Liberals' first Throne Speech, see the Canadian Social Research Links Ontario - Government Links page

ONPHA's Submission on the Social Union Framework (PDf file - 46K, 4 pages)
Oct. 21, 2002
"ONPHA speaks out on Canada's Social Union Framework and the future of affordable Housing. Read ONPHA's submission to federal and provincial governments reviewing SUFA."

ONPHA's Response to CMHC's Public Consultation on Housing Renovation Programs (PDF file - 95.5K, 16 pages)
Sept. 20, 2002
"Read OPHA's submission to CMHC on why the federal government should renew RRAP."

Pre-Budget Submission To House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance Sept. 9, 2002

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Where's Home? 2000 Update - Ontario
Complete update (PDF file - 199K, 5 pages)
Based on data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, this study examines the rental market in Ontario and 21 municipalities. This study and last year's update extend the data from the 2 previous Where's Home? reports (released in 1999) to a 12 year period, making this the most comprehensive rental housing study in Ontario currently available. The 2000 Update is a project of the Housing Again web site partnership, and is co-sponsored by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Ontario Region of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.
Related links :
The Where's Home? Reports - A housing awareness project of Housing Again
Where's Home? A picture of housing needs in eight Ontario municipalities.
Where's Home? Part 2 - Housing data on 13 additional Ontario municipalities.
Annual updated data for the 21 Where's Home?cities and regions
1999 Update (PDF file - 166K, 4 pages)

A New Canadian Pastime? Counting Homeless People
J.David Hulchanski
December 2000
Addressing and preventing ‘homelessness’ is a political problem, not a statistical or definitional problem.

Categorizing Houselessness for Research and Policy Purposes: Absolute, Concealed and At Risk
J.David Hulchanski
University of Toronto
December 2000
Homelessness or Houselessness?

Social Issues Now Dominate Polls about the Concerns of Canadians:
"House the Homeless" say 85% in Annual Maclean's Poll
Press Release
December 25, 2000

Where's Home? Part 2 (November 1999) is an extension of the housing data collection and analysis project that began with "Where's Home? A Picture of Housing Needs in Ontario" (May 1999). With Part 2, there are now detailed profiles of housing needs over the last 10 years for 21 Ontario municipalities (cities, municipal districts and regions).

The 13 communities in Where's Home? Part 2 are Cornwall, Durham, Guelph, Kingston, London, Muskoka, Owen Sound, Sarnia, St. Catharines-Niagara, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins and Windsor. The cities in the first part were Barrie, Hamilton-Wentworth, Kitchener-Waterloo, North Bay, Ottawa-Carleton, Peel, Peterborough and Toronto.
Among the findings:
- one in four tenant households are at risk of homelessness.
- in most parts of Ontario, tenant incomes are falling even as rents rise faster than inflation.
- about 16,000 new rental units are needed annually according to CMHC, but almost no new affordable rental housing is being built.
*Check out Housing Again's Online Housing Resources - Canadian and International. Awesome.

Canada and Ontario Ministers Commit to Co-Operation on Affordable Housing
November 18, 2003
"The Honourable Steven Mahoney, Secretary of State responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and the Honourable David Caplan, Ontario's Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, have pledged to work together closely to create more affordable housing units under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Agreement."
Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Related Links:

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Agreements on Affordable Housing
Links to agreements signed between the Government of Canada and provinces and territories, and links to related online resources
CMHC Homelessness Resources
CMHC Affordable Housing Resources

Ontario Affordable Housing Program
[ Ministry of Municipal Affairs ]

Raising the Roof
"Raising the Roof is the only national charity in Canada dedicated to finding long-term solutions to homelessness"
Shared Learnings on Homelessness (from Raising the Roof)
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee
Housing Again - "...a site dedicated to putting affordable housing back on the public agenda"
Housing and Homelessness Network in Ontario
Housing Resources (from Settlement.org )

National Disaster Post (PDF file - 1.3MB, 8 pages)
Winter 2004 Edition
"This edition of the National Disaster Post, the newsletter of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, (...) has stories and articles related to housing and homelessness and has the latest listing of names of homeless men and women who have died."
Related Links:
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
- TDRC Links to housing and homelessness resources - 50+ links to Canadian, American and international resources

From the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton-Wentworth :

The Crisis of Homelessness in Hamilton-Wentworth
- incl. links to : Introduction - The Community Action Plan - Community Initiatives - Links - Guestbook

The Community Action Plan on Homelessness in Hamilton-Wentworth
PDF file - 484K, 113 pages
October 2000
Excellent report, includes information about a wide range of social issues, including : women's issues, disability issues, Aboriginal issues, food bank statistics, emergency shelter services, the Provincial Homelessness Initiative Fund, and much more...

The Rupert Coalition (Toronto) - (Rooming houses, boarding homes) "...to create new housing and ensure upgrades to existing housing for low income people"

Housing New Canadians is a research partnership focused on housing access and discrimination in the Toronto area, where about forty percent of all newcomers to Canada settle.
Housing New Canadians examines in detail how immigrants and refugees secure housing, whether their housing needs are met, and the quality, adequacy, and cost of the housing they occupy.
Bibliographies -- Housing and Immigrants - Housing Related Discrimination in Canada
Links to three dozen sites about immigration and settlement, housing (in several countries) and housing discrimination
Publications - links to a dozen online reports on housing and immigration dating back to 1994. You should check them all out, but here's one in particular that caught my attention :

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions : The Human Right to Adequate Housing

A Chronology of United Nations Activity, 1945 to 1999
PDF file, 330K, 70 pages
February 2000

The Toronto Report Card on Homelessness 2000 - "One year ago, in January 1999, the Mayor's Homelessness Action Task Force released its report, Taking Responsibility for Homelessness: An Action Plan for Toronto. The title reflects a key theme of the report: everyone, and every level of government, must take responsibility for solving this terrible social problem. Is homelessness getting better or worse?"
Source : City of Toronto

Taking Responsibility for Homelessness (PDF file - 1468 KB, 294 pages)
"The Golden Report"
January 1999
Complete Report
Source : City of Toronto

The Golden Report : Speech - Overview - Recommendations (PDF file - 202K, 28 pages)
January 1999
Anne Golden's comments on the release of the report, an overview of the report and the complete list of 105 recommendations, all in one file
Source :
United Way of Greater Toronto
- Social Issues - Check out this section of the United Way site - it's got links to the Social Services Bulletin ("Homelessness and the Federal Budget of March 2000"[small PDF file]), the speeches and writings of Anne Golden and United Way reports.

Toronto at a Turning Point: Demographic, Economic and Social Trends in Toronto
November 1999

Street Wise : Health and Community Resources for Street Youth in the City of Toronto.
Listing of local social service agencies for youth in Toronto
Source:
The Drug Prevention Centre (Toronto)

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Claims filed by single mothers at the Ontario Human Rights Commission charge
that the current maximum 'shelter allowance' discriminates against women and children
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) and
Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO)
February 11, 2003
"Several women from across Ontario filed claims at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, charging that the current maximum 'shelter allowance' discriminates against women and children. The inadequacy of the shelter allowance makes it impossible for social assistance recipients to find and maintain housing in the private rental market."
Related Links:
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
Ontario Human Rights Commission

Voices: Experiences of Eviction in Ottawa
Report of follow-up interviews conducted by two Masters of Social Work Students from Carleton University with tenants who had been contacted by the CERA Ottawa Project
Source : Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation

Eviction Prevention - links to Voices: Experiences of Eviction in Ottawa - CERA's submissions to the provincial Standing Committee on General Government with respect to Bill
119, the "Red Tape Reduction Act" - Manufacturing Homelessness: An Op-Ed article on evictions and the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal (June 30, 2000) - Final Report of the Early Intervention Pilot Project (April 2000) - Interim Report of the Early Intervention Pilot Project (November 1999)
The Early Intervention Project is an eviction and homelessness prevention strategy whereby tenants in receipt of eviction applications are contacted by mail and telephone and informed of their rights and obligations under the Tenant Protection Act. They are also referred to appropriate services such as their local legal clinic or Social Services to access the Shelter Fund.

Manitoba

From the Government of Manitoba:

May 21, 2009
Province launches homeless strategy with focus on mental-health housing
Up to 2,000 Manitobans to Benefit from 285 More Mental-health Housing Units, 600 to Benefit from New Portable Housing Benefit: Ministers
A new strategy to reduce and prevent homelessness will connect homeless people and those with mental-health challenges to stable, secure housing and support services, Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross and Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh said today.
The HOMEWorks! homeless strategy includes 10 new initiatives in the following program areas:
* Emergency Shelters * Outreach * Housing with Services * Prevention

For more information on Manitoba's HOMEWorks! Homeless Strategy homeless strategy, go to the
ALL Aboard: Manitoba’s Poverty Reduction Strategy home page, where you'll find links (in the right-hand margin) to:
* Homeless Shelters * Emergency Homeless Shelter Standards * The Salvation Army Project * Cold Weather Strategy * Homeless Outreach Team * Project Breakaway * Housing with Services * Portable Housing Benefit * Community Wellness Initiative * Homelessness Prevention Summit * Housing First * The Mental Health Commission of Canada * Housing and Supports for People with Mental Illness * Contacts

Related links:

$212 million to battle poverty
Province to place greater emphasis on housing needs
May 22, 2009
WINNIPEG — After years of sniping from left-wing critics that it has done too little to fight poverty, the Doer government fired back Thursday with a new "comprehensive" strategy that brought kudos from social agencies and business leaders alike. The province announced it has earmarked $212 million in new funding this year for bricks-and-mortar projects, as well as programming for low-income Manitobans.
It also signalled a change in how it deals with people with mental-health issues and addictions, placing greater emphasis on housing. The "housing first" approach means the government will try to put a roof over a person's head before offering other supports.
Source:
Winnipeg Free Press

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“We got evicted..did I leave that out?”
Stories of Housing and Mental Health (PDF - 1.4MB, 52 pages)
By Ian Skelton and Richard Mahé
February 2009
This study begins to explore ways of supporting processes of community transformation through enhancing the provision of housing and supports for people living with mental illness. In particular, the study is concerned with factors that mediate between individuals living with mental illness and the broader social environment. (...) In-depth, face-to-face interviews were held over the summer of 2008 in Winnipeg
with people living with mental illness, family members with responsibility for giving care and key informants. This report attempts to portray experiences of housing and mental health as recounted by the interview participants.
Source:
Manitoba Office - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
[ More publications from CCPA-Manitoba ]

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Panhandling should not be criminalized, says study
Press Release
September 20, 2007
Restrictions on peaceful panhandling—such as City of Winnipeg Bylaw No. 128/2005—constitute an illegitimate use of state power, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study, by Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, says there is no moral or legal justification for turning peaceful beggars into criminals.

Complete report:

The Expressive Liberty of Beggars:
Why it matters to them, and to us (PDF file - 282K, 28 pages)
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Saskatchewan

Minister accepts report from task force on housing affordability
News Release
June 5, 2008
Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer today accepted a report from the Task Force on Housing Affordability, which outlines several recommendations about how to improve the affordability of housing within the province. The report, prepared by Ted Merriman and Bob Pringle, is the result of consultations with residents of 16 Saskatchewan communities. In total, 85 individuals, groups and organizations were consulted and 53 written submissions were received.
Source:
Government of Saskatchewan

Complete report:

Affordable Housing: An Investment
Report of The Task Force on Housing Affordability
June 2008
Source:
Task Force on Housing Affordability
[ Saskatchewan Social Services ] .

Calgary Homeless Foundation
"[T]he Foundation provides capital funding for housing projects and has committed itself to providing the vehicle for community consultation on homelessness issues and community collaboration on solutions."

Research on Homelessness
2004 Count of Homeless Persons
"A count of homeless persons is conducted every two years by The City of Calgary. This initiative provides information that is used for The City's ongoing research and planning activities, and is also published as a public report."
- incl. links to counts of homeless people for earlier years (back to 1994)

2004 Count of Homeless Persons (Full Report) (PDF, 1.6 MB)
Executive Summary (PDF, 113 KB)
Fast Facts on the 2004 May 12 Count (PDF, 101 KB)
Definitions Related to Homelessness (PDF, 169 KB)
The Many Faces of the Homeless: Experiences of the 2004 Count of Homeless Persons (PDF, 131 KB)
Frequently Asked Questions about the Count of Homeless Persons (PDF, 62 KB)
Press Release (67 KB)
July 19, 2004

Source:
Community Strategies
[ City of Calgary ]

Also from Calgary Community Strategies:

Community Social Statistics
The Community Social Statistical Profiles have been updated with the most recent data available for each residential community in Calgary (using data from Statistics Canada's 2001 census and from the 2003 Calgary Civic Census).

Related links:

BronxWorks - Lifting Lives, Building Futures
BronxWorks has played the leading role in reducing street homelessness in the Bronx by 80%. BronxWorks helps individuals and families improve their economic and social well-being. From toddlers to seniors, we feed, shelter, teach, and support our neighbors to build a stronger community.

New York City Coalition for the Homeless
Coalition for the Homeless is the nation's oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. We are dedicated to the principle that affordable housing, sufficient food, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society.

Homes Not Handcuffs: The Criminalization
of Homelessness in U.S. Cities (PDF - 811K, 194 pages)
July 2009
Homes Not Handcuffs is the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty’s (NLCHP) ninth report on the criminalization of homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless’ (NCH) fifth report on the topic. The report documents cities with the worst record related to criminalizing homelessness, as well as initiatives in some cities that constitute more constructive approaches to street homelessness. The report includes the results of research regarding laws and practices in 273 cities around the country; as well as descriptions of lawsuits from various jurisdictions in which those measures have been challenged.
[ News Release - July 14/09 ]

Sources:

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP)
The mission of NLCHP is to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness.
[ NLCHP Publications ]

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH)
The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission, our common bond, is to end homelessness.
[ NCH Publications ]

Related link:

Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?
By Barbara Erenreich
August 8, 2009
It’S too bad so many people are falling into poverty at a time when it’s almost illegal to be poor. You won’t be arrested for shopping in a Dollar Store, but if you are truly, deeply, in-the-streets poor, you’re well advised not to engage in any of the biological necessities of life — like sitting, sleeping, lying down or loitering. City officials boast that there is nothing discriminatory about the ordinances that afflict the destitute, most of which go back to the dawn of gentrification in the ’80s and ’90s. “If you’re lying on a sidewalk, whether you’re homeless or a millionaire, you’re in violation of the ordinance,” a city attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., said in June, echoing Anatole France’s immortal observation that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”
Source:
New York Times

NOTE:
The above article by Barbara Erenreich is the third in a series; links to her two earlier op-eds appear below.
[You must register as a NY Times member to access the content below; it's free, and they won't send you any SPAM nor share your email address.]

* A Homespun Safety Net
By Barbara Erenreich
July 12, 2009

* Too Poor to Make the News
By Barbara Erenreich
June 14, 2009

New from The National Coalition for the Homeless (U.S.):

New Report Documents 10 Years of Anti-Homeless Violence
Press release
August 7
Washington, DC– Today the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) released the 2008 numbers of hate crimes and violent attacks against people experiencing homelessness. The numbers are from a new report entitled Hate, Violence, And Death on Main Street USA, 2008.
Key findings include:
* The total number of attacks for 2008: 106.
* The number of fatal attacks is the second highest since 2001: 27 deaths.
* 73 percent of the attacks were committed by individuals who were ages 25 and younger.
* Florida ranked #1 for the fourth year in a row for most attacks, California was second.

The new report:

Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA:
A report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2008
August 2009
HTML version - table of contents and links to each chapter
PDF version (2.7MB, 98 pages)

[ All NCH Publications ]

Source:
The National Coalition for the Homeless

Media coverage:

Attacks on Homeless Bring Push on Hate Crime Laws
By Eric Lichtblau
August 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — With economic troubles pushing more people onto the streets in the last few years, law enforcement officials and researchers are seeing a surge in unprovoked attacks against the homeless, and a number of states are considering legislation to treat such assaults as hate crimes. This October, Maryland will become the first state to expand its hate-crime law to add stiffer penalties for attacks on the homeless. At least five other states are pondering similar steps, the District of Columbia approved such a measure this week, and a like bill was introduced last week in Congress.A report due out this weekend from the National Coalition for the Homeless documents a rise in violence over the last decade, with at least 880 unprovoked attacks against the homeless at the hands of nonhomeless people, including 244 fatalities. (...) Sometimes, researchers say, one homeless person attacks another in turf battles or other disputes. But more often, they say, the assailants are outsiders: men or in most cases teenage boys who punch, kick, shoot or set afire people living on the streets, frequently killing them, simply for the sport of it, their victims all but invisible to society.|
Source:
The New York Times

Complete report:

The State of the Nation's Housing 2009
- includes links to the full report in one PDF file and a table of contents with links to individual chapters in PDF format

Executive summary (PDF - 332K, 5 pages)

Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

Related links:

Housing Duress Continues Despite Signs of a Bottom in Housing Sales and Starts:
Harvard Releases the 2009 State of the Nation’s Housing Report
June 22, 2009
Press Release
(New York) The worst housing downturn in generations continues to grind on, finds a study released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Despite some stabilization in homebuilding and home sales in the spring, real home prices continued to fall and foreclosures mount in most areas in the first quarter of the 2009.

Source:
Joint Center for Housing Studies
The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States. The Joint Center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic, and social trends, providing leaders in government, business, and the non-profit sector with the knowledge needed to develop effective policies and strategies.

National Low Income Housing Coalition
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.

States cope with rising homelessness (U.S.)
March 18, 2009
By Christine Vestal
Nearly 700 homeless families in Massachusetts are living in hotels at state expense because emergency shelters are full. New York City saw a 40 percent rise in families seeking shelter since the recession began. School districts nationwide reported more homeless kids in the fall of 2008 than the entire year before. And tent cities have sprung up throughout Hawaii and in Sacramento, Calif., Reno, Nev., Phoenix, Portland, Ore., and other cities. (...) State officials are seeing levels of homelessness they have never seen before. President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package includes $1.5 billion to address the problem, but officials say it’s not enough to cover the cost of housing for millions of families in crisis. As many as 3.4 million Americans are likely to experience homelessness this year – a 35 percent increase since the recession started in December 2007 – and a majority will be families with children, according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The predictions are based on rising levels of unemployment and poverty, plus a severe shortage of affordable housing created, in part, by the mortgage industry collapse.
Source:
Stateline.org
Stateline.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan online news site that practices journalism in the public interest by reporting on emerging trends and issues in state policy and politics.

Related links:

Homelessness Counts:
Changes in Homelessness from 2005 to 2007
12 January 2009
Source:
National Alliance to End Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, mission-driven organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.

Rates of Homelessness and Programs for the Homeless in the U.S.:
--- In Boston, house calls for the homeless. (BOSTON, MA) - By Katie Zezima, New York Times. November 10, 2008
--- Nation's homeless czar says helping the homeless also helps taxpayers - By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel. November 13, 2008
--- Family homelessness rising in the United States - By Ross Colvin, Reuters.com. November 12, 2008
--- Dane County homeless families recorded longer stays at the Salvation Army shelter in 2007. (WISCONSIN) - By Karen Rivedal, Wisconsin State Journal. November 13, 2008
--- New solutions sought as homeless ranks grow. (DETROIT, MI) - By Gregg Krupa, Detroit News. November 13, 2008
Source:
November 13, 2008 edition - Poverty Dispatch
[ Poverty Dispatch (U.S). ===> the content of this link changes twice a week ]
[ Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) ]
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

Housing & Mortgages for People with Disabilities
This guide has been created to help individuals living with disabilities, and their family members, in the process of buying a home of their own. Here you can learn more about the five important steps in buying a home and about financial assistance programs that are available for you living with disabilities, who want to buy a home.
After reading this guide to home ownership for people living with disabilities, you will know more about:
* The advantages and disadvantages of buying a home
* The most important steps in the home-buying process
* Common terms related to home-buying
* How to get started in your quest to purchase a home
* Financial assistance geared toward enabling you living with disabilities to buy your own homes
Source:
MortgageLoan.com

HUD REPORTS DROP IN THE NUMBER OF CHRONICALLY HOMELESS PERSONS
More resources and better reporting contribute to annual declines
News Release
July 29, 2008
WASHINGTON – Last year, nearly 32,000 fewer persons lived on the nation's streets and in emergency shelters. That's according to a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that points to a 15 percent average yearly reduction in chronic homelessness since 2005.

The Third Annual Homeless Assessment
Report to Congress (PDF - 2.1MB, 144 pages)
July 2008
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Community Planning and Development

Earlier related reports - includes the first two homelessness reports and over a dozen related reports

Overview of HUD Homeless and Housing Programs

Source:
Homelessness Resource Exchange
[ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ]

-----

Related links from the July 31 Poverty Dispatch:
(Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

*Drop in homeless count seen as 'success story'
By Wendy Koch, USA Today
July 28, 2008

* U.S. reports drop in homeless population
By Rachel L. Swarns, New York Times
July 30, 2008

* Chronic homeless population down 15%, U.S. says
By Vimal Patel, Los Angeles Times
July 30, 2008

* Numbers of homeless drop, but some question data
By Michael Amon, Newsday
July 30, 2008

* Defining 'Homelessness Down'
By Nathan Thornburgh, Time Magazine
July 30, 2008

U.S. Mayors examine causes of hunger, homelessness (small PDF file - 2 pages)
News release
December 17, 2007
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho, Inc. released today the results of its 2007 Hunger and Homelessness Survey at a press conference at the Conference of Mayors Headquarters in Washington, D.C. For more than 21 years, the Conference of Mayors has documented the magnitude of the issues of hunger and homelessness in our nation’s cities. This report provides an analysis of the scale of the problem in twenty-three of America’s major cities (listed below) and the efforts these cities are making to address the issue.
Source:
The U.S. Conference of Mayors
Sodexho USA

Complete report:

2007 U.S. Hunger and Homelessness Report (PDF file - 983K, 72 pages)
December 2007

First Nationwide Estimate of Homeless Population in a Decade Announced:
Approximately 744,313 people homeless on a single night.
News Release
January 11, 2007
Washington—There were 744,313 people homeless in January 2005 according to Homelessness Counts, the first national assessment of the number of homeless people in over a decade. The report was released today by the Homelessness Research Institute of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. This estimate, a compilation of point-in-time counts collected by local Continuums of Care, provides data on every state and community in the country.

Complete report:

Homelessness Counts (PDF | 1.51 MB | 48 pages)
Homelessness Counts-Appendix B Methodology Supplement (PDF | 84 KB | 2 pages)
Homelessness Counts-Appendix B Supplement 1 (PDF | 93 KB | 48 pages)
Homelessness Counts-Appendix B Supplement 2 (PDF | 79 KB | 20 pages)

Source:
National Alliance to End Homelessness

Related Links:

Hunger, homelessness on rise
December 15, 2004
"Hunger and homelessness continue to rise nationwide with requests for emergency food assistance increasing in 97 percent of the cities surveyed including Nashville, according to the Sodexho USA Hunger and Homelessness Survey. The U.S. Conference of Mayors released the 27-city survey in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. An average of 20 percent of the requests for food assistance have gone unmet and 78 percent of the surveyed cities reported a 7 percent increase in requests for shelter by homeless families."
Source:
Nashville City Paper Online

And the "rose-coloured glasses " analysis of the same survey:

Survey: Good news in fight against hunger, homelessness
December 15, 2004
"Washington - Requests for emergency food and shelter increased in many large U.S. cities this year, but not by as much as in recent years, according to a survey released Tuesday. Requests for food rose by 14 percent, while appeals for shelter increased by 6 percent, said the annual report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, based on surveys of 27 large cities. The numbers have risen every year since the conference began the survey 20 years ago. However, the rate of increase for food requests was the lowest since 1998. The rate of increase for shelter requests was less than half what it was in 2003, and the lowest since 1997.
Source:
The Plain Dealer

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Report targets escalating civil rights abuses
against homeless people and identifies "meanest" cities
News Release
November 9, 2004
"WASHINGTON, DC- Today the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) releases Illegal to be Homeless: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States, the most comprehensive study of homeless civil rights violations. This study is also the most up-to-date survey of current laws that criminalize homeless people and ranks the top 'meanest' cities and states in the country. This report examines legislated ordinances and statutes, as well as law enforcement and community practices since August of 2003."

Complete report:

Illegal to be Homeless:
The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States
November 2004

PDF version (1.5MB, 118 pages)

HTML version
Introduction (Introduction - Background - Methodology - Problem Statement/Consequences of Criminalization - Model Programs - Conclusions & Recommendations
Data from Surveyed Cities (Cities Included in this Report - Meanest Cities - Narratives of the Meanest Cities - Narratives of the Other Cities -Prohibited Conduct Chart)
Appendices ( Survey Questions - Incident Report Forms - Sources)

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Interagency Council on Homelessness - U.S.
"Given the complex nature of addressing such a broad problem as that of homelessness, it is not so surprising that there exists a federal initiative in the United States to collaborate on "out of the box" approaches to alleviating this situation. In 1987, with the passage of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, Congress established the Interagency Council on Homelessness in order to provide organized leadership in the area of providing assistance to homeless families and individuals. From the homepage, visitors can read about the Council's latest activities, then continue on to learn about funding opportunities and information from states and local municipalities on their own homelessness-based initiatives. Specifically, visitors can learn about the various regional coordinators employed by the Council, and read some rather ambitious 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness adopted by cities such as Columbus, Ohio, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago"
Site Review:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003

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Homelessness
- "...primarily a portal to other useful information, including a link to the strategic plan of the US Department of Health and Human Services to end chronic homelessness, a link to "Blueprint for Change" that summarizes effective services and strategies to address homelessness among those with behavioral health problems, FirstStep--an interactive website that helps determine what Federal assistance programs may be available to assist homeless persons, and Practical Lessons--a conference publication summarizing research literature on homelessness and housing as of 1999."
(link suggestion received via e-mail)
Source:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
[ U.S. Department of Health & Human Services ]

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Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- incl. links to:
- HUD news - Newsroom - Priorities - About HUD
- Homes (Buying - Owning - Selling - Renting - Homeless - Home improvements - HUD homes - Fair housing - FHA refunds - Foreclosure - Consumer info)
- Communities ( About communities - Volunteering - Organizing - Economic development
- Working with HUD (Grants - Programs - Contracts - Work online - HUD jobs - Complaints)
- Resources (Library - Handbooks/ forms - Common questions)
- Tools (Let's talk - Webcasts - Mailing lists)

Homelessness
Great collection of resources for homeless people and for those who want to help the homeless...
- incl. Housing - Food - Jobs/job training - Health care - Social Security benefits - Homeless veterans
- federal programs to help the homeless - incl. Housing - Food - Education - Health Care - Social Security - Jobs - Homeless Children
Homelessness Resources - from the HUD Library

Housing Choice Voucher Program Fact Sheet (Section 8)
"The housing choice voucher program is the federal government's major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments. The participant is free to choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program and is not limited to units located in subsidized housing projects."
Source:
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Cuomo Releases Historic Report that Paints Most Comprehensive Picture ever of Homelessness in America
Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (Click the link above to read the press release)
December 8, 1999
Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve
Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients
December 1999
- SUMMARY REPORT
- TECHNICAL REPORT
- HIGHLIGHTS REPORT
Source: Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Homeless Resources

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National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC)
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is a membership organization of health care providers working with homeless people across the United States. The Council exists to help bring about reform of the health care system to best serve the needs of people who are homeless. The National Council home page contains reports, policy papers, clinical information, two newsletters, links to health and homelessness sites, and a forum for members.

Homelessness Resources on the Web (from the NHCHC)
- links to 40+ sites organized under the following headings: Government | Housing | Homelessness | Health | Policy & Advocacy

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America's Neighbors: The Affordable Housing Crisis and the People it Affects (PDF file - 286K, 21 pages)
- from the National Low Income Housing Coalition - February 2004

U.S. Conference of Mayors - Sodexho Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2003
Hunger, Homelessness Still On the Rise in Major U.S. Cities; 25-City Survey Finds Unemployment, Lack of Affordable Housing Account for Increased Needs
Press Release
December 18, 2003
"Washington, DC -- Hunger and homelessness continued to rise in major American cities over the last year, according to the new U.S. Conference of Mayors-Sodexho Hunger and Homelessness Survey, released today at the Conference of Mayors Headquarters. As the overall economy remained weak, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 17 percent over the past year, and requests for emergency shelter assistance increased by an average of 13 percent in the 25 cities surveyed."
Hunger and Homelessness Survey:
A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities
A 25-City Survey (PDF file - 802K, 121 pages)
December 2003
Sources:
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Sodexho USA "the leading provider of food and facilities management in the United States"

Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty (Los Angeles)
"The Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty, a project of the Weingart Center, is a non-profit, non-partisan, research and policy organization serving the research and networking needs of academics, government, community based direct service agencies, policy-advocacy organizations, the media, philanthropic organizations, policymakers and other members of the community involved with the issues of homelessness and poverty. The Institute is strategically situated on Skid Row at the Weingart Center, the largest homeless service organization in Los Angeles, with more than 15 years of experience helping men and women break the cycle of homelessness."

Homelessness in America
EPIC Alerts Public to Homeless Tracking System:
Proposed guidelines to create a homeless tracking database called "Homeless Management Information Systems" present serious risks to civil liberties.
Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Data and Technical Standards Notice (PDF file - 225K, 26 pages)
- July 2003 guidelines
EPIC Homeless Tracking Fact Sheet - (PDF file - 53K, 2 pages)
August 2003
NOTE: EPIC is urging the public to send comments to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in opposition to HMIS (until September 22, 2003).
Further info is available in the above fact sheet.
Source :
Poverty and Privacy
[ Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) ] - U.S.

National Low Income Housing Coalition: 2002 Advocates' Guide (U.S.)
"Serving as a primary resource for any and all parties interested in "ending America's affordable housing crisis," the National Low Income Housing Coalition: 2002 Advocates' Guide is offered by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a member-supported organization whose sole purpose is helping ensure that everyone in America has access to affordable housing in "decent, healthy environments." Toward that end, the Advocate's Guide provides an extensive array of links to vital services and agencies. Among the resources listed in the Advocate's Guide are numerous government reports on health and safety conditions and guidelines for housing of every variety, both public and private. Beyond such essential information, however, the guide also addresses concerns of special groups and populations, including women, minorities, the homeless, those affected by AIDS or other debilitating diseases, and those living in rural areas. The Advocates' Guide both fully discloses housing rights and serves as a channel to further sources of aid, guidance, and advocacy."
Reviewed by The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001

Urban Homelessness and Public Policy Solutions: A One Day Conference - U.S.
This conference was held on January 22, 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley.
Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center
Los Angeles
- includes a downloadable version of the conference briefing book :
Homelessness in Urban America: A Review of the Literature (2000) PDF format, 165K, 74 pages of excellent recent information on homelessness in America (not just bibliographic references!)

The National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness
Under contract to the Center for Mental Health Services, DHHS
The National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness maintains and updates a bibliographic database on homelessness and mental illness. The Center publishes a series of annotated bibliographies, substantive papers, and an organizational referral list.

Homelessness Among Veterans - homeless assistance programs and initiatives
Source : US Department of Veteran Affairs

Homelessness Links
Hundreds of links to organizations, reports, fact sheets, programs, and more...
Source:
Economic Success Clearinghouse (formerly Welfare Information Network)

National Survey on Homelessness
Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve
Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients
Summary Report
December 7, 1999
The Urban Institute
This is a large report that will take a long time to download, but it's well worth the wait. Includes demographic characteristics (sex - race/ethnicity - age - marital status - education - veteran status), as well as information about: the children of homeless clients - income - employment - comparisons of clients from central cities, suburbs, and rural areas - comparisons with 1987 Urban Institute findings, and much, much more...

International Union of Gospel Missions
Check out the site map of this rich site for links to information about homelessness (including statistical information back to 1994), welfare reform, Internet resources, news and events, etc.
- incl. 11th Annual Snap Shot Survey of the Homeless - Fall 1999

National Coalition for the Homeless is a national advocacy network of homeless persons, activists, service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness.

National Low Income Housing Coalition offers issue papers, legislative and policy updates, and information on housing issues, State coalitions, and conferences.

HomeBase
Located in San Francisco, California, HomeBase's mission is to end homelessness, prevent its recurrence, and decrease its effects on communities. The HomeBase web site contains research and technical assistance publications, policy briefs, and other information on homelessness nationally and in California.

Homeless Home Page
Contains archives from the HOMELESS electronic discussion list, as well as research papers, program descriptions, and many other resources.

Homeless News Service
The first global news service for homeless newspapers (newspapers operated by, distributed or sold by, and or written by homeless and formerly homeless persons).

Homeless People and the Internet
This web site discusses why the Internet is an important resource for homeless people. It includes tips for finding free, public-access to the Internet and describes online resources for homeless persons. The web site also contains information on self-help and continuing education.

Homeless People's Network
The Homeless People's Network (HPN) is an email discussion list for homeless and formerly homeless persons. The web page contains archives from the discussion list and instructions for subscribing.

National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH)
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nationwide federation of public, private, and nonprofit organizations that form a powerful network of concerned individuals and organizations advancing practical, realistic, community-based solutions that build a better future for generations to come. The NAEH is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to solving the problems of homelessness and to preventing its continued growth. The Alliance web page contains information on programs, practices, legislation, and NAEH activities.

Tedrico's Page Homelessness Resource Links
Homelessness, hitchhiking, panhandling, and homeless programs head the discussion at Tedrico's Page, along with statistics, links to shelters & soup kitchens, pictures of homeless people and their stories, articles & tips, veteran resources, volunteering opportunities, online games, and more.

Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America's community-based service organizations offer more than 160 different programs that help people -- including children, youth, the elderly, families in crisis, the homeless, people with disabilities or mental illness, and ex-offenders returning to society. The web site describes program activities and provides a listing of VOA local affiliates.

The National Coalition for the Homeless
A national advocacy network of homeless persons, activists, service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness.

Food Not Bombs Archive and Current Events
Containing a list of chapters, digested fnb-l mailing list archive, news, and press.
Peace Tree
Peace Tree exists to provide links to the myriad of resources available on the 'net devoted to diversity, justice, and peace.

Bay Area Homelessness Project
A consortium of thirteen colleges and universities developing and implementing programs and projects to prevent and end homelessness.

Homeless Arts Project
An art gallery solely for those artists and poets who are or were homeless, for those in transition, for those "floating" from one abode to another.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
- List of reports in the CBPP Publications Library: All recent material is online and free; paper copies of older studies can be ordered from CBPP.
- Includes many reports and studies organized under the following themes: Federal Welfare Policies, Federal Budget Priorities; Federal Tax Policies; State Fiscal Policies; State Safety Nets; Poverty and Income Issues; Food Assistance; Health; Labor Market Policies; Low-Income Housing; Earned Income Tax Credit Analyses; and Immigrants. Something for every interest...
- List of CBPP studies in Low-Income Housing in the U.S. - including the following: l>

Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: An Innovative Approach to Welfare Reform - December 1998

How the Statutory Changes Made by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 may Affect Welfare Reform Efforts - December 1998

Housing and Welfare Reform: Some Background Information - November 1998 (excellent overview of federal housing assistance and welfare reforms in the U.S.)

In Search of Shelter: The Growing Shortage of Affordable Rental Housing - June 1998

Homelessness in the News and Other Resources
Homeless Listserve homepage maintained by Communications for a Sustainable Future at the University of Colorado
Innovations Network Visit "InnoNet" for help with non-profit issues such as fundraising, program evaluation, doing surveys, and much more!
International HOMELESS Discussion List and Archives HOME PAGE
links to over 450 U.S. sites with information on homelessness

Misc. U.S.
National Clearinghouse On Families & Youth

Mental Health Services Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN)

International Links - Misc.
(in reverse chronological order, with the latest additions at the top)

Allocating social housing:
opportunities and challenges (PDF - 396K, 43 pages)
By John Thornhill
July 2010
Contents:
1. Summary of the challenges and options
2. What is social housing and what is it for?
3. What are the challenges to the way in which social housing is allocated?
4. How does social housing work in other countries? (Scandinavia, the U.S. and Germany only)
5. Options: rethinking allocations in a wider context
6. Aspirations for approaches to allocations
-------------------------------
(Excerpt from the Conclusion):
The election of a new coalition government in the UK ushers in an era of change and reform which will be significant for the housing sector. Many changes which will impact on the policies, priorities and structural landscape of allocations and access to housing can be expected.
Source:
Chartered Institute of Housing
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is the professional body for people involved in housing and
communities. We are a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation. We have a diverse and growing
membership of over 22,000 people – both in the public and private sectors – living and working in over 20
countries on five continents across the world. We exist to maximise the contribution that housing professionals
make to the wellbeing of communities.

Australian Government launches 12 year plan to reduce homelessness in Australia
Media Release
21 December 2008
The White Paper on Homelessness, The Road Home, was launched today by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek. The White Paper outlines a plan for reducing homelessness in Australia by 2020, with specific goals to:
* Halve overall homelessness; and
* Provide accommodation to all rough sleepers who seek it.
There are currently 105,000 homeless people in Australia, of whom around 16,000 sleep rough.

The Australian Government's White Paper on Homelessness
On 21 December 2008, the Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP and Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek MP, released the Government's White Paper on Homelessness: The Road Home.
- incl. links to the full paper and executive summary, along with some background information on the development of the paper and a few links to more contextual material.

Complete paper:

The Road Home : Homelessness White Paper
Contents:
* Foreword
* Background
* Executive Summary
* Chapter One: Scoping the Problem
* Chapter Two: The White Paper vision
* Chapter Three: Turning Off the tap
* Chapter Four: Improving and expanding services to end homelessness
* Chapter Five: Breaking the cycle
* Chapter Six: Research
* Chapter Seven: Implementation and governance
* Glossary
* End Notes

Source:
Prime Minister of Australia

Related link:

Australia releases ambitious plan to cut homelessness in half
December 22, 2008
By Michael Shapcott
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd introduced yesterday (Sunday) an ambitious plan to half the overall number of people who are homeless, and ensure that everyone who is sleeping outside has shelter. The plan, set out in a white paper called "The Road Home", includes $1.2 billion over four years in new spending - and is part of the Australian government's economic stimulus package that is designed to help people in that country weather the global economic crisis.
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

International trends in housing and policy responses (PDF file - 1.2MB, 188 pages)
By Julie Lawson and Vivienne Milligan
December 2007
"This study provides a review of housing policies across an array of countries that have a similar level of economic development to that of Australia but have addressed housing questions in different ways. It aims to increase local understanding of international policy in housing, with a focus on social policies that intend to assist lower-income households to obtain appropriate and affordable housing, and to promote good ideas for policy action for consideration by Australian policy makers."
- incl. info on Canada’s intergovernmental agreements for social housing

More info about the International housing trends and policy responses project

More research themes
- incl. * Housing Policies and Programs * Housing Affordability * Indigenous Housing * Homelessness * Care and Support Services * Urban and Regional * Housing Markets * Research Theory and Practice

Source:
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute