Pat Love is walking from Ottawa to Peterborough to mobilize public support for a solution to Ontario’s social housing crisis.

Homelessness is the starkest sign of the crisis. It’s growing in many parts of the province, including Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, Kitchener, Hamilton and even in some remote and rural areas.

In Ottawa, on any given night, 850 men, women and children are sheltered in the city’s emergency hostels. Between January 1997 and December 2000, there was a 24 per cent increase in the number of bed nights for all individuals in emergency shelters. A City of Ottawa report says the worsening situation is fed by poverty and a severe shortage of affordable housing.

In Toronto, about 4,900 individuals are sheltered nightly, and the number is steadily rising. A Canadian Press survey found that "once population differences are taken into account, the percentage of people in Toronto using shelters is actually 15.8 per cent higher than in New York."

The crisis extends well into the field of publicly assisted social housing for low income earners. Where’s Home, a survey of 21 communities by the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada found that:

• one in four tenant households – hundreds of thousands of renters – all over Ontario is 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 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, but almost no new affordable rental housing is being built.

Peterborough has the distinction of having the highest percentage of tenant households on the brink of homelessness in Ontario. A Social Planning Council survey covering 502 family members classified as homeless or near homeless found as many staying with friends or on the streets as there were in shelters. The survey found 70 per cent can’t afford basic necessities such as food, clothing, personal hygiene products, telephone, or transportation.

In Ottawa, the number of social housing units has remained static at about 23,400 units since 1997. Applications for social housing units jumped from 2,900 in 1997 to 6,500 in 2000. Only 1,857 applicants were accommodated last year. Despite the city’s booming economy, many people live in poverty. In recent years 24,000 renter households have paid more than half of their income for rent.

Several housing interest groups have documented the problem. Increasingly, they are being joined by private sector calls for action. The Toronto Board of Trade says: "All levels of government must work together to improve support services and access to affordable housing for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming so." Mitchell Cohen, President of one of Ontario’s largest builders, wrote recently in The Globe and Mail: "We all have to recognize shelter as a fundamental human need and to commit the resources to ensure that each of us has a safe, secure and affordable place to call home."

You can find more information of social housing by going to:
www.housingagain.web.net

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