HOUSINGAGAIN-L Bulletin #3

[Catherine Nasmith <cnasmith@istar.ca>]

HOUSING AGAIN // e-bulletin
November 29, 1999 // Number 3

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A twice-monthly electronic bulletin published in on what people are
doing to Put Housing Back on the Public Agenda in Ontario, across Canada
and around the world.

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In this bulletin:

1 – Devolution: Feds download housing programs
2 – Queen’s Park: Give and take
3 – Supportive housing: Can Ontario deliver?
4 – On the streets: Actions in Toronto, Hull, Ottawa

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Devolution: Feds download housing programs

The federal government has signed an agreement with Ontario to transfer
the funding and administration of federal social housing programs to the
province. There are more than 260,000 units of non-profit, public and
co-op housing in Ontario. Before the transfer, more than half were
administered or had received some funding from the federal government.
Now, more than 225,000 are under provincial control, with only
federally-administered co-ops and on-reserve Aboriginal housing still at
the federal level.

The transfer isn’t a routine administrative swap. It marks the departure
of the federal government from national affordable housing policies and
programs. Similar transfer deals have been signed with five other
provinces and three territories. Ottawa has supported affordable housing
programs since the 1940s. Now, Canada is only developed country in the
world without a national housing policy.

Housing co-ops in Canada opposed the transfer. After a nation-wide
political campaign, co-ops have been taken out of the transfer in
Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Prince Edward Island. The co-op
campaign is continuing. Off-reserve Aboriginal housing providers also
opposed the transfer and have launched a legal challenge in Winnipeg.

The social housing transfer in Ontario paves the way for the province to
complete its plans to download social housing programs to
municipalities. More on this in a future issue of the Housing Again
e-bulletin.

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Queen’s Park: Give and take

The ink was barely dry on the federal-provincial social housing transfer
when the Ontario  government announced further deep cuts to funding for
social housing providers. On November 18, the province announced cuts to
what it calls “manageable costs” (maintenance and administration).

Late in the day on November 19, the Ontario government re-announced that
it was planning to spend about $50 million to create new rent subsidies
for low-income tenant households. The announcement was first made in
March. However, there are still no details about the amount of subsidy
for individual households or who will be eligible. Even though the
province is claiming credit for the spending, the money comes from the
federal government as part of the federal-provincial social housing
transfer. The province is required to spend the money on housing-related
programs. 

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Supportive housing: Can Ontario deliver?

In March of 1999, the Ontario government announced a $42 million program
to deliver new supportive housing. Since the province is downloading
social housing to municipalities, the new program was handed to the
Ontario Ministry of Health to deliver. To get the projects up and
running quickly, the province suggested that sponsors use existing
buildings rather than new construction. This raised fears that some
low-income tenants might lose their homes to make way for supportive
housing tenants. 

We want to hear about your experiences with this program. Did your
project get funded? Do you have a project that didn’t meet the program
guidelines? Have low-income tenants been displaced?

Please share your thoughts and experiences. Log into the Discussion Area
of Housing Again and scroll down to the discussion “thread” on the new
program. If you’re not already a registered user, follow the text boxes
to register your user name and password.  

And while you’re in the Discussion Area, check out the many other
“threads”. Point your browser to http://www.housingagain.web.net.

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On the streets: Actions in Ottawa, Toronto, Hull

Community-based housing groups took to the streets in the last two weeks
in a series of actions calling for more housing for the homeless. The
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, a Toronto-based advocacy group, took
about 200 homeless people and their allies to Parliament Hill in Ottawa
on November 17. Royal Canadian Mounted Police security was intense. The
police met the protestors with massive doses of pepper-spray – the first
time it has been used on Parliament Hill.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and the Ontario
Federation of Labour staged a major event on housing and homelessness on
November 25. More than 400 trade unionists and community activists
jammed into Toronto City Council Chambers to demand more housing. 

On November 27 in Hull, the Front d'Action Populaire en Réamenagement
Urbain, based in Montreal, drew hundreds of supporters to a housing
rally that was held at the start of the Quebec Liberal Party’s annual
convention.

To find out about upcoming events, or to register your event, please log
onto the Events section of the Housing Again web site at
http://www.housingagain.web.net.

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If you have news and views about housing, please visit our web site at
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