Good morning.
Thank you to the chair and to the rest of the committee for the invitation to speak today, and to the rest of the presenters this morning.
I want to focus my remarks on the need for safe and affordable housing, particularly how it relates to neighbourhood-based poverty reduction, which I would look at as an essential piece to any poverty reduction strategy. I am going to be speaking to you from my perspective as board president for The ONE Change Inc., which is a grassroots community development organization. However, my remarks will certainly be flavoured by my day job as a men's homeless shelter director for Outflow Ministry; my long-time advocacy for the homeless community in Saint John; and also my time living in the old north end, which is one of the priority neighbourhoods in Saint John.
Time is short, so I'll limit my remarks to two key areas. First, I'll discuss what type of housing, in my view, is needed; and second, I will discuss the importance of community, both its physical layout and its residents. I'll conclude my remarks by suggesting a way to crystalize our thinking.
What type of housing do I believe is necessary? The terms of reference given to us to prepare for this morning touches on my answer. One of the main areas raised for the study is on affordable housing. May I respectfully contend that this term of reference is incomplete? Saint John is in need of housing that is not only affordable but also safe. Today Saint John has housing that is affordable. We also have housing that is safe. The trick, in my mind, is to have housing that is both.
Let me provide you with two examples. ONE Change operates the Nick Nicolle Community Centre. We recently commissioned a study about the use of that centre and how to use an adjoining building that was vacated when the neighbourhood school closed, how we could use that building to benefit the community. One of the comments made by a community member is that they use our community centre as a place to get warm in the winter because their apartment is too cold. Clearly this apartment is affordable, but it is not safe.
The second example comes from a man who used the Outflow men's shelter. He excitedly left the shelter one day to move into his own place. It was a time of handshakes and celebration for everyone. He came back to the shelter two days later in need of a bed for the night, covered in scars from bedbugs. The building he moved into was infested. Again, the apartment was clearly affordable, but it was not safe.
Neighbourhood layout is also important when we consider safe and affordable housing. Housing is not only safe and affordable based on the unit or building itself, but also based on the physical place the building is. ONE Change is proud to be part of what we would call the corridor of services, which includes the NEW-C or the North End Wellness Centre, RiverCross mission, St. Luke's church, the Harbour church, the North End Food Bank, and our own Nick Nicolle Community Centre, which are all within a few blocks of each other.
Each of those services contributes to safe and affordable housing by providing residents with some of the services, meals, and community that they need in order to live flourishing and dignified lives. Such pieces of a community are crucial. At ONE Change, we are proud to offer all of our programming for free. No one is quizzed about how worthy she or he is to receive programming or about whether their household income is low enough to warrant a program subsidy. Instead, everyone is treated equally.
A family locked into a third generation of poverty will receive the same high level of service when they walk through the door at the Nick Nicolle Community Centre as a member of Parliament does. In my view, this is essential to providing a dignified service to our residents, because it means that everyone who walks through the door is an equal. Maintaining safe and affordable housing on a limited income is difficult. There are unavoidable expenses. Accessing the programming, whether educational, recreational, or athletic, that helps people break the poverty cycle should not add to these expenses.
I want to mention one more thing about ONE Change. I said earlier that we are a grassroots organization, and I mean that. Resident input is welcomed and it is encouraged with everything ONE Change does.
We have doors open to the community, and we are also eager to solicit its advice. With whatever ideas this committee has, please, please make sure you take your lead from the citizens that these ideas will most directly impact. Their voice matters every bit as much as mine does, and you have as much of an obligation to listen to them as you have to listen to me.
I would like to close my time by suggesting a framework for our thinking. At first blush, you may think this is a little bit pie in the sky or perhaps even silly, but please hear me out. My suggestion for you is to think big every single time. Poverty reduction is not good enough. Poverty reduction makes statistics shrink and people feel good, but it leaves other people behind. Our goal should be the end of poverty. That is a big dream.
Homelessness and a lack of safe and affordable housing is a big problem in Saint John. Generational poverty is a big problem in Saint John. Further than that, poverty in general is a big problem in Saint John. I am encouraged by this committee's desire to try innovative solutions and to give Saint John an opportunity to try out these new ideas. We are not going to solve poverty with the status quo. We've tried that, and it did not work. With every single idea you have, please ask, “Is this big enough to end poverty?” If the answer is no, then please scrap it and dream bigger.
It has been a privilege to present to you this morning and to share the floor with my colleagues. I appreciate your time.
Thank you. Merci.