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Archive for October, 2008

 

In Beaches-East York the incumbent Liberal MP, Maria Minna, is once again heading back to Ottawa to represent us. The East York Tenants Group congratulate her.

Now to the business of getting some concrete action from our newly re-elected federal representative and the newly formed federal government.

Although our recently re-elected MP is in the opposition, tenants in Beaches-East York have certain expectations with regard to alleviating hardships faced by tenants, who by the way, comprise a huge segment of the residential households in Beaches-East York.

In the weeks preceding the election we raised a number of important tenants’ issues, not least of which is ‘affordable housing’. Two of the main factors in realizing ‘affordable housing’ are:  i) an adequate supply of rental apartment buildings and/or, ii) bringing back ‘rent controls.’  Several community groups and organizations have raised these issues time and again with politicians. The East York Tenants Group e-mailed political representatives at all levels of government (more…)

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We have less than 2 weeks remaining before the federal election on October 14, 2008.  Many tenants in Beaches-East York are struggling to make ends meet due to rising unemployment and underemployment. We are about to experience a huge leap in our overall cost of living due to the downturn in the global economy. This means many tenants will find it even harder to pay market rents as the present economic crisis deepens. So why isn’t the issue of ‘affordable housing’ addressed by the candidates? Is it because ‘tenants are invisible’?

 

A closer look at the housing system put in place by the federal government provides clues as to why the tenant population has become invisible. Several decades ago the federal government put in place a housing program that distanced them from the thorny issue of ‘affordable housing’ for renters. The program focused more on the private market and the ownership sector. The responsibility for the rental market sector was downloaded to the provincial and municipal governments but that responsibility is (more…)

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 By I. Aagaard, Guest Contributor

 

 

In my previous piece (MISSING: National Housing policy in Federal Elections!) I focused on affordable housing, whether or not this should be viewed as a fundamental human right, and the fact that we in Canada do not have a national housing strategy.

 

In this piece I’d like to pose some questions regarding “sustainable affordability” to affordable housing. By definition, “sustainable affordability” means the affordability to a decent place to live must be sustainable. To help accomplish that, one must have a greater degree of control over one’s housing costs – i.e. the profitability factor must be decreased. More Not-for-Profit and Co-Op housing would help on that front, as would home ownership. Another factor to consider is the whole business of banks lending practices when it comes to mortgages. Just look to the US and what’s happened (more…)

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