This year’s Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) has just been released. I was proud to be part of this year’s effort, coordinated by staff of the National Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Here are 10 measures proposed in this year’s AFB: Create 470,000 new (full-time equivalent) jobs….
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On February 20, the British Columbia government will table its next provincial budget. With that in mind, it’s useful to reflect on the province’s homelessness crisis—along with the various public policy factors that have likely contributed to it. Here are 10 things to know: 1. Public operating spending by BC’s…
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On November 22, the Trudeau government unveiled its much-anticipated National Housing Strategy. While much of the Strategy’s content and funding levels had already been broadly outlined in the most recent federal budget, the Strategy provides further detail on the content of a renewed federal role in affordable housing. Here are 10 things…
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On November 17, the working group of the Alberta Alternative Budget (AAB) sponsored a one-day workshop at the University of Alberta. The event’s main purpose was to discuss recent developments in Alberta public policy, as well as expectations for the upcoming Alberta budget. Twenty speakers presented in total. In light…
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This is part two of a two-part blog series on social assistance. Part one, which looks at social assistance across Canada, can be accessed here. As recently noted by my colleague Rachel Campbell, last fall’s Point-in-Time (PiT) Count of persons experiencing homelessness across Alberta yielded interesting findings pertaining to social assistance….
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To end homelessness, provincial and territorial governments need to adequately finance social spending—especially spending on affordable housing, social assistance, child benefits, and homelessness services. And any provincial government wanting to increase social spending needs a solid fiscal plan to get there. Here are 10 things to know about the fiscal…
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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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