Why do average rent numbers always seem too low? As I work on major reports, like our recent one looking at rental wages, I have a front row seat to the shortcomings of data collection. Sometimes these shortcomings are small and inconsequential to the overall conclusions. Sometimes they are big…
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When we talk about housing affordability the focus is usually on home ownership and high housing costs. Less discussed is the affordability crisis faced by the third of Canadian households (4.7 million families) who rent their homes. This paper looks at the extent of the problem by determining the hourly…
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People without affordable housing suffer from poor health outcomes, have difficulty finding and sustaining employment and are at greater risk of having their children removed by child welfare authorities. Here are 10 things to know about affordable housing in Alberta specifically: 1. The previous provincial government undertook important initiatives pertaining to affordable housing….
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As public opinion polls confirm, the wheels seem to have come off the Ford Fiesta. After months of fallout from cuts to education, hundreds of educators across Ontario receiving redundancy notices, and a round of collective bargaining-related gauntlet-throwing, provincial MPPs retreated to their ridings for an extended summer break that…
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The Ontario government is cutting two-thirds of the funding for the Ontario Seniors’ Transit Tax Credit program. Whereas previously $9.7 million was allocated for the program, now there is $3.5 million. The spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation says, “no negative impacts to seniors are anticipated.” That sounds odd….
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The extraordinary surge in popular support for expanding public health care, a “Green New Deal” and other progressive policies demonstrates a powerful public appetite for meaningful social change. Decades of neoliberal austerity and “the market made me do it” politics, which boosted inequality in most countries, have also created pent-up…
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“I used to have unfettered access to public spaces, something most people would take for granted, but when I began visibly violating gender norms, I became subject to verbal and physical abuse while in public on a fairly regular basis and have little recourse except to avoid public spaces.” –…
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