On its first full day in office, the new Wynne administration made an important housing commitment: Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Health Minister Deb Matthews announced that the province will pick ongoing funding for the innovative At Home / Chez Soi project on mental health, homelessness and housing. Using the housing first approach, the At Home project […]
Mayors Issue Powerful Call For National Housing Plan
The mayors of Canada’s biggest cities have issued a powerful call for a new national housing strategy in Canada. “We need to start working with the federal government and our provincial governments on a national view of housing,” says Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, speaking on behalf of the Big City Mayor’s Caucus of the Federation […]
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Premiers make strong, new commitment to housing for all Canadians
The Premiers of Canada’s provinces have made a strong commitment to negotiating a comprehensive, long-term national housing plan with the federal government. The new commitment came on the final day of the Council of the Federation meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake on July 26. The millions of Canadians living in more than 1.5 million households that are […]
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Winter Cold Brings More Federal Funding Chill
The new year brought skin-blistering cold to many parts of Canada. The extreme cold weather was a somber reminder of the critical importance of good quality, affordable housing for the personal health of individual Canadians, and underlined the value of housing in ensuring the social and economic health of communities and the entire country. Precarious […]
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Ending Homelessness In Kingston
Community forum and seminar with Queen’s University students, February 28, 2014: Presentation notes from the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott.
Wellesley Institute Federal Pre-Budget Backgrounder (March 2007)
Millions of Canadians are suffering in a nation-wide affordable housing crisis, even though Canada is one of the richest countries in the world. The 2007 federal budget is a good opportunity to launch a new national housing program. The Wellesley Institute 2007 pre-budget backgrounder offers an outline of the problem and the solution.
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Toronto’s 2006 Street Needs Assessment: Moving To Action
Experts and advocates agree: Toronto’s 2006 homeless street count was fatally flawed and does not provide reliable data to make important decisions about the allocation of funding for shelters, services or housing. This document presented to the Toronto City Council’s Community Services Committee on July 5, 2006 discusses the issues surrounding the 2006 Street Needs Assessment.
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Sizing Up Ontario’s Housing Benefit
The Ontario government says that it will release its much-anticipated (and much-needed) poverty reduction strategy sometime in December. Most housing experts (including the Wellesley Institute) say that the strategy has to include a housing benefit – money that is paid to low and moderate-income renter households to help them cover the gap between what the […]
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Seven Priorities For The New TCHC Special Working Group, From Engaging Tenants To Enlisting Experts
It has members and a mandate, and now the new Special Working Group on the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), chaired by Councillor Ana Bailão, has about six months to chart a financially sustainable future for the city’s biggest landlord. The Special Working Group was created after Toronto City Council voted to reject a scheme […]
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