A major build-out of affordable housing requires us to stop relying on the current private, for-profit approach in BC and Canada. Instead we need to expand the stock of non-market and co-op housing with public-led approaches and non-profit development.
Housing and homelessness
VANCOUVER - A non-profit model for building rental housing in Metro Vancouver could deliver substantially lower monthly rents, shows new research released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office.
"More than an infectious pathogen," writes Michal Rozworski in his feature analysis for this issue, "the novel coronavirus is a very harsh mirror held up to pre-pandemic reality... It is exposing the true cost of hollowed-out public services, debilitated trade unions, and cross-cutting economic and racial inequality."
One year into Canada's battle with COVID-19, this issue of the Monitor explores how the pandemic's arrival has reshaped life and what policy interventions are needed to build a sustainable road to recovery.
This research turned to ten other Canadian cities to ask how municipal housing departments supported the creation of affordable rental housing, and how much staff capacity was dedicated to that effort. It was surprising to find that every surveyed city (except Winnipeg) had an affordable housing strategy, and that planning documents consistentely cited the creation of affordable rental housing as both a key priority and an area where the municipality could play a role. However it was equally surprising that nearly half of the surveyed dedicated only one full-time staff towards the creatio
In this issue:
The summer/fall 2020 Our Schools/ Our Selves digs into the underlying issues of equity and access that have been revealed and exacerbated by the COVID-19-related shutdown and subsequent move to online and remote learning; a cross-country scan provides an overview of the various funding mechanisms currently in place for public education in each province and territory to illustrate the link between funding, policy and priorities.
Maria Rose Sikyea is a young Dené artist living in Yukon with her adorable three-year-old. When I spoke to her in November, she was expecting a second child, whom she hoped would be delivered with the assistance of a midwife. But like many others in her situation, Sikyea faced a considerable roadblock: Yukon is the only Canadian jurisdiction that does not offer access to government-provided and funded midwifery.
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press Dec. 12, 2020
"STAY home."
For months we have heard this refrain from our public-health officials. And yet, in Winnipeg, hundreds of people have no home. As a result, they are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. A large majority are Indigenous.
Poverty, overcrowded housing, high rates of homelessness, systemic racism are just some of the underlying conditions causing communities in the northern region of Manitoba to be vulnerable to COVID19. For these reasons and more, Indigenous leaders in communities in the northern region acted quickly to declare a state of emergency and isolate their communities. In Thompson three
The fact that Indigenous people are consistently overrepresented in homeless counts across Canada reflects the lack of attention to its causes, such as the historical effects of colonization. Importantly, according to Thistle, homelessness for Indigenous people is not just about the absence of a roof over peoples heads, it is an experience of being “…isolated from their relationships to the land, water, place, family , kin, each other, animals, cultures, language and identities”. This isolation has been worsened by years of neglect and slap and dash responses from governments.