I can't speak for all people who are poor in this country. I can speak to my experience as an educated professional living 35 years in poverty, 19 years as a single parent. It was an enormous struggle, only being able to live in dilapidated housing that had rats in my living space and my kids' beds and making impossible choices between paying half my rent or half my hydro.
I'm a white, able-bodied Canadian-born person who has the ability to articulate these things. How much more difficult is it for someone who doesn't have the privilege that I had, even in my poverty, and how marginalized they are in smaller communities, as you are saying?
I think that—and I'm sure Leilani will speak more to this—if my housing issue with my rats and if I didn't have to live with violent neighbours.... I didn't have a bedroom of my own. I slept on the couch. If just my housing had been taken care of, I think that would have alleviated a lot of stress. I think it would help provide nutritious food on the table for my children. It's critical that housing be taken care of, but it's only one aspect of many issues that affect poverty. It's food, employment, ability, disability. It's all these complexities that come together depending on where you live in the country, but if one element was attended to, such as housing, I think it would make an enormous difference.