ECOHH represents more than 30 community organizations who work with people who have security related issues where they live. The vision of ECOHH is for Edmonton to become a city where there is affordable and appropriate housing for everybody since this is a fundamental right that should be guaranteed in a democratic society.
In the context of the work done at this time by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, ECOHH considers that housing security must be part of any strategy to eliminate poverty. A good housing policy is also a good economic policy. This clearly implies that, if we eliminate the dangers caused by extreme poverty, it will reduce some of our major expenses, like increasing health services costs.
When people cannot find decent and safe accomodations, several other negative impacts come into play that may have costly repercussions for a long time. Our member organizations face this issue every day. Here is an example. A young mother must stay in a violent environment with her children because she cannot afford to have her own apartment. Her health suffers, her children are taken by the youth services, and they lose contact with their mother. To forget the situation she's in, she turns to drugs.
When people have their own housing, an affordable accommodation corresponding to their circumstances, they are able to make decisions to better their live and to help avoid the negative effects of poverty. A national policy on housing is an essential component of an integrated action on housing safety. To eliminate poverty, the federal government will have to act in close cooperation with provinces and territories.
Immediate and focussed attention is required to finance more efficiently solutions to the issue of housing security. ECOHH is concerned by the fact that millions of dollars are spent right now to supply housing, but this money is not used for the purpose of having a direct impact on the elimination of poverty. Elimination of poverty depends in a major way on having access to safe housing. We need a national strategy on safe housing. We need immediate action to facilitate access to affordable accommodations, if we don't want to strengthen the link between poverty and housing problems.
A national housing policy is needed as a foundation for integrated action on housing security. This would be an important element of a national poverty elimination strategy.
Bill C-304, which is currently before the House of Commons, would be a good step in this direction. Poverty elimination will require the close cooperation of the federal government, the provinces, and territories.
This needs to be true of the development of the housing strategy, too. Large amounts of money are being spent by the federal government and provinces on various aspects of housing security, but in the absence of a comprehensive plan, it is difficult to measure the value of these investments or to ensure they are being targeted in the best ways and are not duplicating or leaving serious gaps.
When all that exists is a patchwork of short-term programs and funding there is an instability created that makes it difficult to build in a careful, steady way, using the results of one activity to move on to the next in efficient and effective ways. It is a ramshackle affair rather than a strong edifice. This instability is transferred to the lives of those needing assistance with housing matters in their lives.
It's vital to act on this now, because the recession is making things worse. Here in Alberta, we have seen a massive increase in welfare and employment insurance caseloads in a very short period of time. In the absence of a comprehensive strategy, it is even more likely that costly band-aids will be created to try to respond to crises, but without the benefit of the overall context.
More careful and immediate attention is needed in order to fund issues related to housing security more effectively. Two and a half billion dollars will be invested in the home renovation tax credit program, which will enable those who already own their homes to make them nicer. That will have absolutely no value to the half a million or more people who are currently homeless.
Half a million dollars is going to affordable housing, but only for three categories of people: low-income seniors, persons with disabilities, and first nation communities. This is not based on any clear and accountable plan.
Small investments in renovating rundown social housing are entirely inadequate, so the quality and quantity of such housing will continue to disappear. The pressure with urban core redevelopment is for these properties to be more lucrative for owners to convert to condos for those with money, rather than continue to provide low-income affordable housing. This drives poor people with little transportation capacity further and further away from both the informal community they depend on and the actual formal services they need.
Attention to the dangers of ever-rising rents in the for-profit market is weak, so more and more people are competing for fewer and fewer units. These units are declining in quality since they are the only affordable ones.
One effective way to fix this would be to have measures that would raise the amount of income people have so that they could rent other places. At any time in Edmonton, there are a lot of units available for those who can afford $1,000 a month or more. It is those with no money who have to compete for the little bit of housing at the bottom. Improvements to employment insurance and child tax benefits are just two examples of ways that could put more dollars in the pockets of low-income people to use for better housing.
Once again, I would just like to emphasize three key points. Poverty elimination depends significantly on housing security. We need a national housing security strategy plan, and we need current action in relation to both supply and affordability in order to prevent the poverty/housing problems links from becoming even greater.
Thank you.