Home Insecurity The State Of Social Housing Funding In Bc

HOME INSECURITY The State of Social Housing Funding in BC by John Irwin AUGUST 2004 Home Insecurity: The State of Social Housing Funding in BC By John Irwin August 2004 ISBN 0-88627-375-7 $10 ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Irwin is a researcher with the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. [...] Key findings: Social housing in BC is being transformed by a The BC government has abandoned the provision shift away from affordable housing for those on a of new social housing at a time with the demand low income to assisted living for those with health for affordable housing is rising. [...] BC Housing is the provincial agency that manages these funds for social housing, and rent supplement programs (see the box "What is social housing?" in the summary for a discussion of the differences between rent supplements and social housing). [...] Home Insecurity: The State of Social Housing Funding in BC 7 The State of Social Housing Funding in BC Affordable housing as a shell game The new BC government, in 2001, remained committed to some of the social housing projects announced by its predecessor, but put an end to funding new social housing for those in economic need. [...] The only other new social housing to be built in BC is largely municipally-driven-100 units in the Woodward's re-development in 2006/07,8 250 units that may be built in the 2010 Olympics athletes' village in Southeast False Creek,9 and a number of homeless-at-risk units.10 In stark contrast to the winding down of the Provincial Housing Program, the government will provide 3,500 assisted living uni.

The real brunt of the cuts has been borne by the most economically and socially vulnerable people in the province. [...] The real brunt of the cuts has Second, we need to invest in the people and infrastructure of the been borne by the most province to address unmet needs and a growing social deficit. [...] And we fear that the NDP (like the Liberals) are refusing to entertain a reversal of upper-income tax cuts and the need to reinvest in public services. [...] In addition to this, we have made the following updates not included in the recent quarterly reports: • New funding out of the September federal-provincial health accord does not appear in the most recent quarterly update, and has been added to federal transfers on the revenue side and to the health care budget on the expenditure side (i.e. [...] The 2002/03 deficit of $2.7 billion (prior to a major This finding underpins the need accounting adjustment) topped the previous record by the Socred government in 1991/92 of a $2.3 billion deficit (although as a to re-invest in the public sector.

Small Canadian cities confront serious social issues as a result of the neoliberal economic restructuring practiced by both federal and provincial governments since the 1980s. Drastic spending reductions and ongoing restraint in social assistance, income supports, and the provision of affordable housing, combined with the offloading of social responsibilities onto municipalities, has contributed to the generalization of social issues once chiefly associated with Canada’s largest urban centres. As the investigations in this volume illustrate, while some communities responded to these issues with inclusionary and progressive actions others were more exclusionary and reactive—revealing forms of discrimination, exclusion, and “othering” in the implementation of practices and policies. Importantly, however their investigations reveal a broad range of responses to the social issues they face. No matter the process and results of the proposed solutions, what the contributors uncovered were distinctive attributes of the small city as it struggles to confront increasingly complex social issues. If local governments accept a social agenda as part of its responsibilities, the contributors to Small Cities, Big Issues believe that small cities can succeed in reconceiving community based on the ideals of acceptance, accommodation, and inclusion.

"Rapidly surging house prices, historically low rental vacancies, long waitlists for social housing, and a massive homelessness epidemic - all these have led to many British Columbians feeling trapped in their current housing situation. In Make Housing Central, Kishone Roy, CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association, tells the story of the affordable housing crisis in B.C. and proposes a realistic long-term plan to solve it. Using personal stories, data, and a look inside the non-profit housing sector, Roy shows in vivid detail how British Columbians in many different situations are coping with the crisis. This digestible read helps makes sense of the most pressing issue facing our province - and shows that inaction will be more costly than action."--

Houses for All is the story of the struggle for social housingin Vancouver between 1919 and 1950. It argues that, however temporaryor limited their achievements, local activists pplayed a significantrole in the introduction, implementation, or continuation of many earlynational housing programs. Ottawa's housing initiatives were notalways unilateral actions in the development of the welfare state. Thedrive for social housing in Vancouver complemented the tradition ofhousing activism that already existed in the United Kingdom and, to alesser degree, in the United States.