Ending homelessness

in Kingston and across Canada: What’s the plan?

Michael Shapcott The Wellesley Institute

Queen’s University, October 2013

Housing and homelessness:

Measuring the need

State of Homelessness in Canada 2013: Canadian Homelessness

Research Network / Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

Shelter usage: 818 people in 2012 - up 25% over 2011

Avg. stay: 28 nights - up from 22 days in 2010

10,389 renter households paying 30% or more for housing (47.8%) !7,277 owner households paying 30%or more for housing (15.6%)

Affordable housing wait list: general wait time - 6m to 8 years

Private rented housing: !296 vacant units in 2013 !Avg. market rent: $1,054 - up 37% since 2013 - inflation rate: 19%

!Renter h/h income - 2003 - $44,600 - 2011 - $32,100 - 28% decrease

What about Kingston?

How did we get so many precariously

housed?

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

“The health of Toronto must necessarily mean the health of its citizens. It must mean, too, the continued progress and development of Toronto along desirable lines. ...but I fear, in all candour one must confess that this city, in common with every large city, has acquired inevitable ‘slum districts’... You will probably say: “But Toronto has few such areas and they are not of great extent!” I say, and I think you will agree with me, that Toronto wants none of them, and that the Toronto of the future which we like to contemplate will have none of them.” ! Dr. H.A. Bruce Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario 1934

Toronto

slum

s

trans

formed

into

good

homes

Bad housing makes you sick!Homelessness:

Increased morbidity Increased premature mortality

Mental health: Alarming rates... especially

Clinical depression and anxiety Control / meaning Collective efficacy

Homelessness: Homelessness:

Biological / physical: Chemicals, gases, pollutants Design (accidents) / crowdingSocio-economic:

Affordability / energy Transportation / income / jobs

Contextual: Individual / neighbourhood deprivation

networks / friends / crime

Good housing good for health!Physical and mental health:

Better health outcomes / decreased health care utilization

Community safety: Reduced recidivism among people leaving incarceration

Affordability interventions: Income-based housing subsidies

Environment / physical infrastructure: New housing, repairs, heating, noise,

indoor + outdoor environmental issues, allergens, water + sanitation

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

Making the connections

Wellesley Urban Health Model

Social exclusion... ...cultural adequacy:

The equity lens

Systems thinking: How interconnections in complex, dynamic

world impact our lives and our health

“After 20 years of continuous decline, both inequality and poverty rates have increased rapidly in the past 10 years,

now reaching levels above the OECD average.”OECD (2008), Growing Unequal? : Income Distribution and

Poverty in OECD Countries

Inequality

Inequality and private

housing markets

increasing out or reach95% of Canadians live in homes in private ownership / rental markets

Selected policy recommendations for OECD countries from Divided We Stand •Reforming tax and benefit policies is

the most direct instrument for increasing redistributive effects. Large and persistent losses in low-income groups following recessions underline the importance of government transfers and well-conceived income-support policies. •The growing share of income going to

top earners means that this group now has a greater capacity to pay taxes. In this context governments may re-examine the redistributive role of taxation to ensure that wealthier individuals contribute their fair share of the tax burden.

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

OECD social expenditures

Canada 32nd out of 34

‘Social spending in Canada relies more on public services (education, housing,

health, etc.) than on cash transfers, such as unemployment and family benefits.’

OECD, 2011

How recent spending + tax policies favour highest income households

Survey of Household Spending 2011

0.50%

0.60%

0.70%

0.80%

0.90%

1.00%

1.10%

1.20%

1989

19

90

1991

19

92

1993

19

94

1995

19

96

1997

19

98

1999

20

00

2001

20

02

2003

20

04

2005

20

06

2007

20

08

2009

Federal housing investments as a percentage of GDP)

Government Revenues and Expenditures 2009

SupplySupply

When the feds cut a dollar in housing investments… matching funds from

provinces, territories, municipalities, community and business are lost

Ontario Public Accounts

SupplySupply

Federal housing investments (in millions)

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 2012

$1,500

$1,750

$2,000

$2,250

$2,500

$2,750

$3,000

$3,250

2007

20

08

2009

20

10

2011

20

12

2013

20

14

2015

20

16

2017

450000

500000

550000

600000

650000

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

626,300 homes in 2007 492,500 homes in 2017 Loss of 133,800 homes

22% of entire stock

SupplySupply

Federally subsidized homes

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 2012

Four observations: !!

1.Housing insecurity deep / persistent 2.Costly to people, communities,

economy, government 3.Federal housing / homelessness

investments eroding 4.No comprehensive national plan

1993  -­‐  feds  cancel  new  social  /  affordable  housing  funding

1996  -­‐  feds  start  to  download  most  exis<ng  housing  to  P  /T

1995  -­‐  Ontario  cancels  new  social  /  affordable  housing  funding

1998  -­‐  Ontario  starts  to  download  housing  to  municipali<es    

$400,000,000

$900,000,000

$1,400,000,000

$1,900,000,000 20

00

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Municipal housing investments (in dollars)

Government Revenues and Expenditures 2009

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

John Peters Humphrey: ‘Father of modern international human rights system’

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

!

Article 11 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right...

Toronto 1911: Founding of

Wellesley Hospital

City of Kitchener (2010) Ontario Municipal Board

Discriminatory municipal bylaw on spatial separation !“Statutory tribunals empowered to decide questions of law are presumed to have the power to look beyond their enabling statutes in order to apply the whole law to a matter properly in front of them.... The presumptive power to look beyond the tribunal's enabling statute is triggered simply where a tribunal (with the authority to decide questions of law) is confronted with "issues... that arise in the course of a case properly before” it....”

Victoria (City) v. Adams (2009) BC Court of Appeal

Municipal bylaw criminalizing activities associated with homelessness

“The use of international instruments to aid in the interpretation of the meaning and scope of rights under the Charter, and in particular the rights protected under s. 7 and the principles of fundamental justice, is well-established in Canadian jurisprudence.”

Practical proposals: The Mexico City Charter

!National Survey on Housing: !

• 71% want national housing plan • 66% want increased fed funding • 73% want increased focus on

homelessness

!1.4.3 - Planning authorities shall provide for an appropriate range and mix of housing types and densities to meet projected requirements of current and future residents… permitting and facilitating all forms of housing required to meet the social, health and well-being requirements of current and future residents, including special needs… !Affordable means in the case of rental housing, the least expensive of: !1. a unit for which rent does not exceed 30% of gross annual

income for low and moderate income households; or !2. a unit for which rent is at or below the average market rent…

!Municipalities are required to: !

• develop and implement 10-year plans to end homelessness and ensuring adequate housing for all

• consult widely • ensure measurable, improved outcomes • report annually on progress

Does Kingston’s plan meet the tests?

!Discuss… does Kingston’s plan: !

• set targets to meet housing needs of everyone? • ensure measurable, improved outcomes? • identify the tools / funding required to meet the

named outcomes? • report annually on progress?

Thank you!

www.wellesleyinstitute.com