About one-in-ten Canadians – more than three million people – are living in poverty, and that is having a devastating impact on their health. Those are some of the findings of the 2010 report card on child and family poverty in Canada, released earlier today. Deep and persistent poverty is one factor that is driving […]
Archives for November 2010
Minister of Housing needs to deliver provincial housing plan: Housing Network of Ontario
Housing and homeless advocates across Ontario have begun counting down the final days of fall, eagerly awaiting the promised release of Ontario’s first long-term affordable housing strategy. “We are holding the Minister of Housing to his promise that low-income Ontarians can expect a plan before the cold days of winter, after the government missed their […]
Maytree’s Alan Broadbent: Canada’s urban areas need more power, autonomy
Canada is an urban nation – 80% of Canadians now live in urban areas, a big change from our founding in 1867 when 80% of Canadians were in rural areas. But while the nation has changed, our governing structures remain stuck in the 19th century. Municipalities are, according to the Constitution, “creatures of the provinces” – […]
Continue ReadingMaytree’s Alan Broadbent: Canada’s urban areas need more power, autonomy
Housing Checklist – How does Ontario's LTAHS measure up?
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.
Continue ReadingHousing Checklist – How does Ontario's LTAHS measure up?
Home ownership slightly more affordable, but not affordable enough: RBC Economics
Home ownership is slightly more affordable, according to the latest home ownership affordability survey released by RBC Economics this morning, but ownership is still not very affordable for tenant households. For instance, RBC Economics reports that a Canadian homeowner would have to pay 39% of their average weekly earnings for a typical bungalow – a drop […]
Continue ReadingHome ownership slightly more affordable, but not affordable enough: RBC Economics
Home Care Through an Equity Lens
An article in a Globe and Mail series on innovation in health care delivery highlighted the potential of home visits from family physicians to helping people live independently in their own homes. This can both reduce overall system costs through avoiding or delaying institutionalization and significantly improve the quality of people’s lives. But let’s think a […]
Hidden emergency: Poor housing leading to poor health for many Canadians
Precarious housing is a ‘hidden emergency’ that is affecting the health of a large number of Canadians, and the population health of the entire nation, according to a powerful new research report from the Health and Housing in Transition Study (HHiT). “The number of people experiencing the devastating health outcomes associated with inadequate housing could be staggering […]
Continue ReadingHidden emergency: Poor housing leading to poor health for many Canadians
Health Care Innovation: But Not Without Equity
The Globe and Mail has been running a week-long series on the potential of innovation and private health care delivery. A Nov 9 article focused on private firms providing second opinions and health system navigation is in danger of missing the key point about this innovation: the point is not that the innovations they describe […]
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Gaps in provincial healthcare: not just a matter of fees but a matter of coverage
Today’s article in the Globe and Mail series on Canadian healthcare highlights how a gap in fees among provinces has lead to reduced access to care for Quebec patients in other provinces. While certainly this speaks to a lack of portability of Medicare, a perhaps greater concern is the population in Canada of individuals with […]
Continue ReadingGaps in provincial healthcare: not just a matter of fees but a matter of coverage
Feds confirm three-year homeless funding extension; freeze dollars at 1999 level
The federal government has officially confirmed $134.8m annual funding for the national homelessness program over the next three years. In September of 2008, the feds promised to extend the funding for five years, but said they would review funding practices at year two (fiscal 2010), so the decision to honour the 2008 promise is good news. Human Resources […]
Continue ReadingFeds confirm three-year homeless funding extension; freeze dollars at 1999 level