Canada’s four million renter households woke up to more bad news this morning as the latest survey from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that the country’s already dangerously low rental vacancy rate has slipped even lower. There’s more bad news: The CMHC survey reveals that over the past year, rents have increased faster than […]
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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14 Cents Per Day Won’t Build Many New Homes: Wellesley Institute Ontario Provincial Pre-Budget Backgrounder (March 2007)
Ontario’s spending on affordable housing has been flatlined for several years , one reason why the provincial government has fallen far short of the targets that it has set for new affordable homes. The Wellesley Institute’s Ontario pre-budget backgrounder provides some advance information as Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara prepares to deliver the provincial budget on […]
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Are The Poor Allowed To Ask For Help? Anti-Panhandling Law May Be Illegal
Does Toronto have the legal power to ban panhandling on city streets? What would be the costs? This backgrounder reviews some of the key issues as a municipal politician proposes to criminalize begging for money by the poor.
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Toronto’s Sheltered Homeless: Up Or Down?
There are more men, women and youth sleeping every night in Toronto’s shelters in 2006 than 2002, but the number of families is down. This Wellesley Institute Backgrounder provides an analysis of the latest numbers regarding “sheltered” homeless in Toronto.
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Federal Homelessness Cuts: Bad Now, Worse To Come
Bad now , worse to come: That’s the verdict in the Wellesley Institute backgrounder on cuts to the federal homelessness program. Toronto, Guelph, Peel, London, Windsor, Ottawa and Yellowknife have all reported cuts in 2006 funding under the Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative (the federal homelessness program). And the entire $134.8 million program is set to expire […]
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Talkin' housing with the Bush man!
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 […]
Greater Toronto Urban Observatory
The Greater Toronto Urban Observatory monitors and evaluates urban issues. Bookmark this site and visit regularly as it has great info on Toronto and the surrounding area. The GTUO is part of the global network of urban observatories under the umbrella of the United Nation’s Centre for Human Settlements. – Michael Shapcott
Debating housing and homelessness in LA
The Los Angeles Times recently devoted five days to a debate on housing and homelessness between two policy experts. Prof. Peter Dreier is recognized as one of the leading housing experts in the world. His detailed analysis of the LA situation has a lot of practical observations about housing and homelessness issues in other metropolitan […]
Plan to end homelessness in LA
Los Angeles is often called the homeless capital of the United States. With 90,000 or more people on the streets and in shelters, the homelessness crisis there has been growing worse in recent years. A blue-ribbon panel of homeless experts, advocates, academics, service providers and politicians recently produced a comprehensive ten-year strategic plan called Bring […]