Transcript The Affordable Housing Action Network

The Affordable Housing
Action Network
www.hastingshousing.com/ahan
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2010
Who Are We?
• A network of over 100 individuals
• Representing over 40 agencies
• Concerned with addressing the issues
of affordable housing and
homelessness in and surrounding
Hastings County
Founding Housing Working
Group Agencies Include
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Community Advocacy & Legal Centre
Three Oaks Foundation - Women’s Shelter
Hastings County Social Services
Youth Habilitation
Hastings Housing Programs Branch
Canadian Mental Health Association
Hastings Housing Resource Centre
AHAN Vision
AHAN believes that everyone has a right
to safe, secure and affordable housing
Core Housing Need
• Affordability – measured as the ability of households
to spend less than 30 per cent of before-tax income on
shelter
• Adequacy – measured as dwellings reported by their
occupants as not in need of major physical repairs
• Suitability – measured as having enough bedrooms
for the size and make up of the household
Something to think about…
• As of December 31st 2009, 1385 people remained on
the waiting list for rent geared to income housing
• In 2009 Hastings County Social Services provided
assistance for 1409 individuals who were homeless
or at risk of being homeless due to a housing
emergency situation
• In 2009, the Housing Programs Branch housed 108
applicants who had “urgent housing status”
Something to think about…
• From April 2009 to March 2010 the Three
Oaks Foundation: Provided shelter for 107
women and 71 children in crises
• In 2009 the Community Advocacy &
Legal Centre provided 353 people with
duty counsel service at the Landlord & Tenant
Board
Something to think about…
In 2009 the Canadian Mental Health
Association (CMHA) provided shelter for
129 people through the transitional
homes for the homeless of which 26 were
children
• 728 calls in search of emergency housing
could not be accommodated.
Something to think about…
• In 2009 the Hastings Housing Resource Centre
(HHRC) assisted 1400 people on a one to one
basis, 93% of these clients were homeless or in
critical need of housing
• 4873 clients registered on the HHRC website
in need of affordable housing in Hastings
County
NEW GEARED TO INCOME AND
SUBSIDIZED HOUSING
2006 – 2010
• Hastings Housing Programs Branch:
– 40 units created under the Canada-Ontario Affordable
Housing Program: Bancroft - 10, Belleville - 19, QW 10; Tweed - 2
– 120 rent supplements under 2 programs
– 61 households receiving down payment assistance
for home purchase
……..continued.....
NEW GEARED TO INCOME AND
SUBSIDIZED HOUSING
2006 - 2010
• HHPB (continued)
– 40 new units – 20 in Belleville, 20 in Trenton
– Addition of 4 units to existing Marmora building
– Renovation and retrofit money received to address
“adequacy” issues and improve efficiencies and
safety
– new units for Bancroft (5), Coe Hill (4) and Deseronto
(5) from social housing reserves
Transitional, Emergency Housing
2006 - 2010
• 2006 - Our House Too
• 2008 - Casa Tres
• 2009 - Quinte West emergency housing
units
• 2010 – All Together Affordable Homes
opened Tom’s Place in Belleville
Housing Market Conditions
Affordability on Minimum Wage
Single
• $10.25/hr x 37.5 hours = $1651 monthly gross
• $811/$1651 = 49% of income
Double
• $811/3302 = 25%
Single worker on minimum wage cannot afford to rent a 2
bedroom apartment in Quinte
Double income on minimum wage could pay $990 for
shelter (mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities)
What Do We Believe?
• Homelessness,
precarious housing and
the lack of affordable
housing, requires a
community response
• Everyone needs to take
action and be part of
the solution
What can municipal government
do?
Lobby Federal and Provincial governments
for long term sustainable funding for
affordable housing programs
Look to expert reports, for example
Federation of Canadian Municipalities for
recommendations
What can municipal government
do?
• consider the need for affordable housing when
reviewing local by laws, development charges
policies
• Look to concepts such as Inclusionary Zoning to
encourage or mandate the development of
affordable housing in the context of new
development
• Consider rezoning – for example commerical to
multiresidential; increase density (R2 to R4
What can municipal government
do?
• Success story:
• Vital Services By Laws in Hastings County
What can municipal government
do?
• Encourage safe and secure rental housing
by:
– Updating and enforcing property standards by
laws and committing resources to ensuring
minimum standards are met
– Enacting and using the established model of
the Vital Services By Law
Our Purpose Today
• AHAN as a resource – to let you know who we are,
who has the information in the community; to tell you of
some of our efforts, such as participation in the provincial
consultation on Affordable Housing Strategy
• AHAN as model – to encourage you to consider our
for integrated approach to affordable housing: services,
supports, protections, health, welfare, food security,
income security
• AHAN seeking - a municipal champion for affordable
housing issues
Questions
Visit our website at:
http://www.hastingshousing.com/ahan/
Resources
• http://www.fcm.ca
• http://www.povnet.org
• http://www.cmhc.ca