Community Action on Homelessness

Community Solutions to Homelessness

 

Initiatives

Homelessness once was considered an individual issue; a state created by a series of poor choices on the part of an individual, or an individual’s characteristics. Now, as homelessness, and the various forms of ‘dehousedness’ are better understood, the role of socio-political conditions is emerging as the driving force behind increasing homelessness.

It is becoming clearer that socio-political conditions such as poverty, unemployment, unequal access to education, race, and etc. create an environment where larger numbers of people join a group of individuals who are at risk of homelessness. Only then do personal choice or characteristics impact on the probability that an individual or family move from the at risk group to experience absolute homelessness, or various ‘dehoused’ conditions, such as living in substandard housing.

Many would identify the lack of affordable housing as the largest and most effective socio-political issue contributing to the growing number of people living at risk or in absolute homelessness. Should people work at full time jobs and still be challenged to provide a safe home for themselves or their families?

During the 1960s and 70s, the Federal Government was very active in building or supporting the development of affordable housing across Canada. Several hundred thousand units were funding post 1973, and up to the 1980s, the federal government was funding about 20 000 new units of community-based co-op and non-profit housing annually.

In the 1980s, this engagement began to change:

“The federal government has abandoned its responsibilities with regards to housing problems. . . The federal government’s role would be that of a partner working with other levels of government, and private and public housing groups. But leadership must come from one source; and a national vision requires some national direction...

The Task Force does not believe that the national government, the private housing sector or the non-profit sector can, in isolation, resolve the tremendous housing deficiencies facing this country. Nor does the Task Force believe that solutions relevant to Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver will necessarily work in Charlottetown or Regina. Policy initiatives must respect the regional character of housing. This imperative does not, however, preclude the development of a new national housing strategy.”

Paul Martin, MP, Liberal Task Force on Housing, 1990

By 1993, the Federal Government had virtually withdrew from supporting the creation of new affordable units. Most provincial governments had housing responsibilities downloaded to them and those governments, including Nova Scotia’s, were also taking a debt reduction, balance the budget approach to managing provincial affairs. The Federal cutbacks were accompanied by reductions in most forms of social assistance.

In 2000, the Province of Nova Scotia made huge changes to its Social Assistance Programs, and these changes, had an impact; and it has not been a good one for many across Nova Scotia. Click here to read the report IMPACT, for the affects of cutbacks on your neighbours.

It is not a coincidence that homelessness increased at an alarming rate from the early 1990s to the Millennium, to the point where Canada’s Big City Mayors declared it a National Disaster in 1998.

The crisis may be most severe for the millions of Canadians unable to achieve homeownership who rely upon the rental market.Owners of housing continue to experience an increase in their net worth and experience a sense of security unattainable by most renters. The 4.6 million renter households in Canada are experiencing increasing rents and shrinking supply as developers convert rentals to condominiums and focus on new condominium developments. The gentrification of downtown urban areas has also squeezed out rental units for low-income individuals.

For more information on the wealth gap and the experience of renters in Nova Scotia visit www.gpiatlantic.org and search for the publication, Income Distribution in Nova Scotia.

While communities across Canada benefit from the leadership of Minister Claudette Bradshaw and the opportunities through the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Initiative, and many people’s lives have been improved, the shortage of affordable housing has not been addressed to stop the increasing numbers of people who are falling into the at risk group for homelessness.

Activists across Canada call upon all levels of government to address absolute homelessness, and continue to call on the Federal Government to implement a real affordable housing strategy that will affect the health of our communities for years to come. For a bit more history, click here.

Though the support for new affordable housing development was restrained during the 1990s, both the province and the federal government continued to support housing for Nova Scotians through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Housing Services Division, Department of Community Services.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is home to Canadians. It strives to assist Canadians live in safe, secure homes. As the Government of Canada's national housing agency, it plays a major role in Canada's housing industry. CMHC supports research that guides housing and community development, assists in financing, and CMHC participates in assisted housing initiatives as directed by the federal government with ongoing responsibility for federal social housing funding. In particular, CMHC supports aboriginal communities in their efforts to become self-sufficient in developing and maintaining their housing. www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Nova Scotia Housing Services Division, Department of Community Services offers a number of programs to help lower-income households maintain, acquire, or rent safe, adequate and affordable housing.  www.gov.ns.ca/coms/hous/

The Solution

Housing and homelessness advocates across Canada are calling on the Government of Canada to implement the 1% Solution – $ 2 billion for housing.This comprehensive approach to addressing the continuum of housing need across Canada moves from offering solutions to get people off the street into a housed situation, to identifying the monies needed to prevent individuals and families from falling into the at risk group. The 1% Solution addresses and proposes:

• Supply – increase the number of rental units
• Affordability – ensure the new units are affordable to the households that need the new housing most
• Supports – programs for people that need special services
• Rehabilitation – funding to maintain housing to a proper standard
• Emergency Relief – special support for people already homeless

Source: Housing for all Canadians: An additional $2 billion for a comprehensive national housing strategy.

The solution engages all stakeholders in the community, from citizens, to non-profit groups, to the private sector. However, the Federal government with their provincial government partners must take the lead. The private sector has a role to play as it has the expertise to make housing a reality through design, finance, and construction for example. However, for the lowest income groups in our communities, the private sector cannot provide safe and affordable housing at a cost that also supports their achievement of profit. The private sector does meet the demand for medium to higher cost housing, but is challenged to meet the needs of lower income Canadians, due to some extent to the fees, levies, and taxes associated with construction. For more information on the challenges facing the private sector to meet the housing need of many low income Canadians visit the web site of Canada Mortgage and Housing and search for the publication Levies, Fees, Charges and Taxes on New Housing.

View Housing Options for Low Income Nova Scotia from CMHC and the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services for more.

The Progress

At a Housing Minister’s Meeting in 2001, the first ministers, responsible for housing from the provinces and territories, and the Federal Counter part, signed a Bilateral Housing Agreement. This agreement allowed for the signing of agreements between each province or territory and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and earmarked over $681 million dollars to housing over the next 5 years (Nova Scotia would receive approximately $18.5 million). Each agreement allows for the transfer of Federal dollars to support affordable housing initiatives, if provincial partners or other partners matched the monies.

In the February 2003, federal budget added new spending other its original commitment to the bilateral agreements, including:

• $320 million over five years for new affordable housing
• $405 million over three years for Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative
• $384 million over three years for RRAP, a housing rehabilitation program
• Surplus Federal Real Property For Homelessness program extended that commits to the consideration of transfer of surplus federal lands to projects that would lessen homelessness.

The National Housing and Homelessness Network (NHHN) tracks the performance of government in relation to homelessness and housing. In November of 2003 it released a report card that showed that provinces are not acting quickly enough to take advantage of the monies available through the bi-lateral housing agreement.

To see the report card clickhere.

Nova Scotia signed its housing agreement with the Federal Government in September 2002. To 2004, there have been two projects announced:

The estimated number of units that the bilateral agreement can support in Nova Scotia range from 1500 to 750 units, depending on the amount of money allocated to support the construction of individual units. The Province of Nova Scotia still has a long way to go to make the most out of the potential of the agreement that committed over $18 million in Federal dollars to housing. This $18 million must be matched by the province for a total injection of $36 million plus into housing across Nova Scotia.

Minister of Community Services, David Morse, indicated on several occasions in late 2003 that the government would be taking swift action on the bilateral agreement. Read the associated press release from the Department of Community Services.

The Challenges

1. Agreements do not meet the needs of persons or families most at risk.

The bilateral housing agreements are unique to each province, however, in general, the monies available to support affordable housing are not sufficient to address the housing needs of persons or families most in need. Rather it will support and facilitate access to housing for moderate income individuals and families. The agreements are still very important because they indicate a first step towards meeting the housing need of all Canadians, a reengagement of the Government of Canada, and housing for moderate income groups will keep some people out of the pool of at risk, there still needs to be a response to the housing need of the poorest of the poor and the working poor in our communities. Remember Vince and Maria?

2. Provinces must act and act now!

Provincial governments have generally been slow in implementing the bilateral housing agreements. This has been attributed to provinces attempts to balance their short-term budgets and the matching requirement in the bilateral agreements. There must be concerted efforts to educate our elected officials about the longer-term pain of short-term savings in relation to housings impact on healthy communities. Education and health are important issues on the minds of all Canadians; however, dollars directed to these two policy areas do not have an equitable or greatest impact when housing is addressed in isolation or not at all. People need access to education and health care, but they need a home base as a starting point. Homes create savings in the long-term. Healthy communities can only be realized from a bundling of support that includes health, education, and housing dollars.

3. Government must commit to the 1% Solution.

These agreements are simply not enough. Addressing the real housing need across Canada will require the commitment of all levels of government and the Government of Canada must implement a long term housing strategy, while considering other population health issues. The 1% Solution calls for $2 billion each year over the next 10.