Ron Kneebone (Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary) and Katherine White (Yukon’s Deputy Finance Minister) have referred to social assistance as “the final layer of the public social safety net — designed to catch those people in need of support but unable to find it from family, friends…
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On 16 March 2017, the Alberta NDP government tabled its budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Whereas last year’s budget announced major new initiatives (such as the Alberta Child Benefit, a carbon tax and the nearly doubling of annual provincial spending on housing), this year’s budget was more status quo. Here are 10 things to know: Alberta…
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This year’s Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) was released on March 9. I was proud to be the primary author of its housing chapter (that chapter is available in English here and in French here). The first AFB exercise began in 1994, with the first AFB being published in 1995. That involved a joint effort between…
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On January 24, I gave a presentation to students at the University of Calgary as part of the Certificate in Working with Homeless Populations program. The goal of this presentation was to discuss emerging trends in Canada’s affordable housing and homelessness sectors. A version of my PowerPoint slides, which are chock-full of visuals…
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On November 17, I delivered a webinar presentation for the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association titled “The Missing Piece: How Housing Policy Benefits from a Socioeconomic Perspective.” The presentation focused on both macroeconomic factors and factors pertaining to Canada’s social welfare system in general; I argued that leaders in Canada’s…
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Alberta’s seven largest municipalities recently released early results of a provincially-coordinated effort to enumerate and survey persons experiencing homelessness. Most of these communities reported reductions in homelessness, and reported a 19% reduction in province-wide homelessness compared to the first provincially-coordinated count conducted in 2014. The stated purpose of a Point-in-Time…
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In October, the Government of Alberta held public consultations to garner public input on changes to the Municipal Government Act. These changes could result in Alberta’s two largest cities gaining additional power and resources from the Government of Alberta. This has relevance not only to voters, but also to a…
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The possibility of implementing a Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI) is currently one of the hottest topics in Canadian social policy. It gained momentum earlier this year when the Ontario government announced it would undertake a pilot study of the GAI. And in June, the Ontario government announced that former Canadian Senator Hugh…
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Canada’s federal government has begun national consultations on the development of a “national housing strategy.” The government is expected to release a report on November 22, which is also National Housing Day. The consultation web site is called “Let’s Talk Housing.” It includes the consultation’s stated vision, principles, themes, intended…
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From time to time, voluntary sector leaders—and advocates in general—come up with ideas for new spending and new social programs. When they do this, they often focus too much on influencing elected officials, and too little on influencing senior public servants. What’s more, it’s important that their proposals be supported by good…
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