Housing crisis immoral
Government & corporations need to create solution
By John Mohan

It's a complex issue, and the needy are caught in the middle. It's a recent story, but it's been brewing for years.

The City of Winnipeg cited a local apartment building owner for operating an unlicensed boarding house after unapproved construction changes made to accommodate more tenants may have created fire traps.

Neighbours are complaining. Some concerned for the renters' wellbeing. Others because "those kind of people" shouldn't live in the area at all. Many living at 103 and 135 Bannerman have physical, mental and intellectual disabilities and are living on social assistance.

FACE CLOSURE

Regardless of the tenants' capacities or income levels, both the city and province insist the owner return the units to their original form or face closure. The owner won't comply due to a shortage of special needs housing and his concern for his renters' welfare. Still, officials have notified tenants that relocation is imminent.

Generally, tenants don't care for the quality of service they receive, yet they believe other housing options will be worse. On Bannerman, they receive some support, a sense of community and meals. If they are relocated to inner-city boarding houses or hotels, they won't feel (or be) as safe or cared for.

Through The Public Interest Law Centre, some have logged a human rights complaint, believing their right to housing should be protected because of their special needs and low income.

It's one thing to regulate housing standards, it's another to assume responsibility to provide healthy options. And social and supportive housing has been in rapid decline since 1993 when our governments began addressing national and provincial deficits.

Purchasing or renting housing has dramatically increased in recent years, yet wages have not kept pace, making housing less and less affordable, especially for low wage earners, pensioners and others on fixed incomes or social assistance. According to a recent report titled A Safer Haven: Innovations for Improving Social Housing in Canada, about 14% of Canadians are in an affordable housing crisis.

Affordable or even available rental units are in actual decline, with some agency leaders reporting that Winnipeg recently had a net loss of 5,000 units. Though new housing is being built, the focus is on middle- or upper-class earners and retiring baby boomers. In response, elected powers of all levels and parties have been asleep at the switch as this train wreck has been unfolding over the last fifteen years or so.

There is no comprehensive national housing strategy. Funding to build more units has been drastically reduced, and the social housing responsibility has been passed off between levels of governments while non-profit organizations are caught in the middle and under-funded. Simply offloading a crisis doesn't mean it's eliminated or even under control.

Secure and affordable housing is a basic human need for everyone, including the poor and disabled. Access to secure and affordable housing measures our civility and justness as a society. It is barbaric to assert the Darwinistic mindset of "if they can't afford it, they should do without" for our weakest and poorest community members.

CIVIL SOCIETY

Where there's a will, there's a way.

If governments can spend millions on image slogans and self-promotion, or elected officials can give themselves multiple compensation packages without years of bureaucratic delay, or corporations can pay their executives seven-figure annual salaries, then they and we are capable of creating a just and civil society where even needy people have access to affordable and dignified housing.

Originally printed in the Winnipeg Sun, Wednesday, January 16, 2008.
Reprinted with the permission of Sun Media Corporation.