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New
National Anti-Poverty Organization report
(Voices: Women, Poverty and Homelessness in Canada)
on homelessness blames government for current crisis
Summerside,
PEI: Poverty and homelessness is a national crisis that must be
addressed by all politicians in Canada's federal election and by any
new government formed after the June 28th election, according to the
National Anti-Poverty
Organization.
As they publicly
launch a new report called Voices: Women, Poverty and Homelessness
in Canada at the Salvation Army soup kitchen in Summerside, Prince
Edward Island today, NAPO is taking aim at all levels of government
to address the issues affecting homelessness, with particular emphasis
on federal policies.
The result of
a multi-year project analyzing the causes and conditions of dramatically
increasing numbers of homeless women in Canada since the 1990s, the
report traces the lives and personal stories of homeless women in
Halifax, Ottawa and Vancouver in the context of such political realities
as changes to transfer payments and failed promises on
national housing strategies.
"These
women have several things in common. They are women, they are homeless,
society has failed them and the government has abdicated its responsibility
to them," says NAPO past president and current board
member, Linda Lalonde. "This is why NAPO is calling on
candidates to commit to solving the homelessness crisis."
"People who are homeless have been hit extremely hard by
the systematic dismantling of our social programs, the lack of basic
federal social assistance rights formerly contained in the Canada
Assistance Plan and national responsibility for the planning and management
of necessary housing infrastructure," Lalonde adds.
NAPO's report
calls for a number of important recommendations to be implemented
by the next federal government.
Highlights include:
Recommendations
The Federal Government should:
- Implement
and adequately fund a national housing strategy.
- Implement
and adequately fund a national action plan on the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
- Implement
and adequately fund a national childcare program.
- Reinstate
the right (formerly contained in CAP) to social assistance without
workfare, time limits, waiting periods and other restrictions.
- Increase transfer
payments to the provinces specifically for social housing and income
support programs.
- Increase spending
on social housing to at least 1% of total expenditures.
Provincial
and Territorial Governments should:
- Raise income
support levels such as social assistance and disability pensions
to provide poor people with an income at least equal to the poverty
line.
- Raise minimum
wages to provide an annual income at least equal to the poverty
line.
- Provide services
that adequately address the needs of individuals living with mental
health issues and addictions.
- Pass anti-poverty
legislation that makes them responsible for implementing an action
plan on poverty issues with clear timelines for any initiatives.
The action plan should be subject to mandatory review by an independent
non-governmental agency.
- All levels
of government should develop participatory budgeting processes that
include participation of poor and homeless individuals, and groups
dealing with poverty and homelessness.
Participants should
have the power to make decisions on budgetary matters, including the
allocation of funds for affordable housing and income support programs.
All levels of
government should be held legally liable for violations of provincial,
national and international human rights legislation.
For the full report,
please go to www.napo-onap.ca
Press conference
and launch of Voices: Women, Poverty and Homelessness in Canada:
2:00 pm Wednesday,
June 16, 2004
Salvation Army soup kitchen
163 Water Street, Summerside, PEI.
All local federal
election candidates have been invited. Confirmed: Regena Russell,
NDP candidate, Egmont Riding.
For more information,
please contact:
Linda Lalonde
NAPO Board of Directors
613-789-0096
Paulette Hulpa
NAPO board representative, Eastern region
902-436-7079.
Sandra Bender,
Researcher
National Anti-Poverty Organization
2212 Gladwin Crescent, Unit C7
Ottawa, ON K1B 5N1
(613) 789-0096 ext. 28
VOICES: Women,
Poverty and Homelessness in Canada
URL: http://www.napo-onap.ca/en/resources/Voices_English_04232004.pdf
PDF file
This
new NAPO report on women who are homeless is based on interviews with
46 women who self-identified as homeless in Halifax, Ottawa, and Vancouver
and features their voices and perspectives on homelessness. Researched
by Marie-José Dancoste, written by Rusty Neal and edited by
Sandra Bender, this 46 page report also makes recommendations for
action by federal and provincial governments. More...
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