Housing shortfall, costs and affordability

[Acitta]

Somewhat cynical there, Dan. The region is working on having (if I recall correctly) four different housing options available by the end of this month; one of them appears to be the former Schwaben Club, I don't know what the others are. That would give many/most of the encampment residents a place to go; others may not accept any of the options and might end up being evicted. But the key is to have multiple and sufficient options, as not everyone in the encampment has the same needs.

Apart from those four housing options the region is working on, what policies would you expect to see, in order to eliminate the encampment?

You make a fair point, and probably I was unfair to say that none on council are implementing policies to solve the problem.

But I think both positions have elements of truth. Council is not just one person, there are different people with different motivations.

IMO if anyone is evicted then the options were not sufficient, by definition.

As for solutions, you're right, I don't all the answers. I do think they are working on some short term ideas (ABTC is an example, Schwaben club, sanctioned tent city) but what I really don't see is rapid action on long term plans (and this is also, partly provincial and city roles)--things like immediate rezoning of all SFH areas to permit up to townhomes and 3 story walkups, and I dunno, 1-2 orders of magnitude more funding for social housing, social supports, etc.

And, I don't think this is a "you are failing to act today"...this is a pattern of failure to act. The last budget there was a huge push to cut the police budget...that could have funded a ton of these initiatives. But instead, the police budget is fatter than ever--and good thing too, it's gonna be a lot of overtime hours when they do end up evicting these people.

Since I've arrived in the Netherlands I've seen zero people living in tents or doorways, and exactly two panhandlers. I dunno, AFAIK they aren't euthanizing poor people, so they must be somewhere. I just know that this problem is not one of resources, but of motivation.

But yeah, cynical is absolutely an entirely accurate description of my opinions and feelings on this issue.

Probably the Netherlands has a more generous welfare benefits so that people don't become homeless in the first place. I the provincial government would raise ODSP and Ontario Works payments to something realistically related to what it costs to live in this province, then a good proportion of those people would not be unhoused.