Responding to the Housing Crisis
read Katherine Bitzer’s presentation at the Sunday Worship service on January 21, 2024
“The present global housing crisis is not like any previous crisis of its kind. It is not caused by a decline in resources or an economic downturn but rather by economic growth, expansion and growing inequality. Housing has become a key driver of growing socioeconomic inequality, increasing wealth for those who own housing and driving those who do not into greater debt and poverty. ”
You don’t have to look very hard, or very far, to understand the reality of her words in our own community. The tent encampments against the backdrop of glittery new condo towers. The numerous news articles about people who are finding themselves in precarious housing situations for the first time, or finding themselves living in their vehicles because they can afford gas, but not rent, or stories about people who have been on the streets for months, and continue to have nowhere else to go, even in the depths of winter.
Rainbow Row
Even across the street from where we are today, a case-in-point of this growing socioeconomic inequality is playing out. The colourful townhouses – Rainbow Row as it’s called, are just a block down on Benton Street. Just has Trinity has been, these townhouses have been a part of my world my entire life. However, purchased in 2022 by Ideal Capital, a Mississauga-based developer, they are now slated to be demolished and a tower of one and two-bedroom units built in their place.
And what is to happen to the current 34 residents of these affordable units? Well that is the unknown, and people are rightfully scared. There are 13 units at risk: 7 three-bedroom townhouses and 6 apartment units in the house behind. The rent is affordable because most tenants have been living there for years, and their rent is protected by rent control, meaning that their rent can only be increased by the annual provincial rent guidelines. For those who don’t know, in 2018, the Ford Government removed rent control on vacant apartment units and on any apartment units built after 2018, so for any vacant unit, or for new builds, landlords can raise the rent to whatever they want.
So, now we have a situation where local rents are pushing $2,000/month for a one bedroom and $3,000/month for a three bedroom apartment. To put that into perspective, for those tenants in Rainbow Row on ODSP (the Ontario Disability Support Program), if they are single, they are receiving $1,308 a month for basic needs and shelter. Again, that’s $1,300 for all of their expenses including rent, so once displaced, finding housing in the current rental market will be a near impossible task. Many of these folks will likely end up becoming part of the hidden homeless in our community – couch surfing, living in unsafe, unsanitary, or overcrowded situations, and there is a very real possibility that some of these folks will end up in the emergency shelter system or in a tent.
On the flip side, a visit to the developer’s website reveals their reason for being: creating wealth for real estate investors. And they’re not trying to hide this fact behind some lovely words about creating new housing. On the landing page of their website, in large font, their main drive as developers is clearly stated: “Elevate Your Portfolio with Investments in Real Estate”. The rest of their website clearly lays out their focus on maximizing profitability, and this is exactly what they are doing, despite knowing full well the hardship they are about to cause for 34 people of this community.
Tent Encampment
On to another snapshot of the housing crisis in Waterloo Region – the tent encampment at the corner of Weber and Victoria Streets in Kitchener. Numbers there dropped last spring, but started rising again in the fall to about 70-80 people. So, who and why are people going there? The simple answer is that it’s a community of individuals who have found themselves with nowhere else to go and/or who feel safer living in a group setting. Some people have been living rough for a long time; some people have recently lost their housing due to a renoviction, or job loss and there simply isn’t room in the system for them; some people are there because they can’t bear the thought of having to give up their pet in order to access a roof over their head; some people are new to Canada and have literally found no room for them at the inn; some people have been restricted from shelters or other programs due to complex mental health and addiction issues.
Think about what the loss of a roof over your head means. No more access to power for heat and light, no more access to facilities such as toilets or showers for basic hygiene needs, no more feeling of safety or security as you don’t have a door to lock to keep yourself and your things safe. Sleep deprivation starts takes a toll both physically and mentally. And especially at this time of year, there is little to no relief for the long, cold nights. I think we can all imagine how easy it might be to spiral into deeper depression and addiction…leading to more complex mental and physical health concerns.
Queen Street Apartments:
I’ll turn to a good news story for a third snapshot of the local housing crisis. As many of you know, I work at The Working Centre, and am primarily involved with our affordable housing projects.
A few years ago, we started hearing more and more stories through our resource centre of women who were experiencing hidden homelessness – these are folks who aren’t living on the street, and aren’t included in any official number of those considered to be homeless in our community, but who are living in a precarious housing situation and are at risk of homelessness – this could be an overcrowed, unsanitary, unheated, unsafe, unaffordable place. This was a growing concern for us, and we knew that we had to respond in some way. And so with a leap of faith, and federal funding through the Rapid Housing Initiative, we purchased the remainder of the building next to the Walper Hotel on Queen Street, and converted the 2nd & 3rd floors into 21 units of affordable housing.
When the units were nearing completion, we worked with community partners to identify women who were at the highest risk of homelessness or who were living in very unsafe environments, with a focus on newcomer and racialized women. To ensure that the units were truly affordable, we set the rents at the shelter allowances of social assistance (which, for eg is $390 for a single person on Ontario Works).
The Queen St. Apartments, opened in June 2023, and I am pleased to say that this was one of the affordable housing projects that received support from Trinity. The impact of safe and affordable housing for immigrant and refugee women and their children, can not be overstated as they transition into our community. When women moved in, there were tears of joy and relief. Many women are working now or looking for work, or are in school to improve their English. They are connecting in with the supports that we offer through our resource centre, and supports that we can link them to in the community. Many friendships have developed, which is so important to reduce the feelings of isolation and sadness. At least 4 women in the building have children whom they had to leave behind as they escaped to Canada. 2 women are fighting removal orders and they fear for their lives if forced to return to their home countries. Many of the women have experienced domestic violence and/or sexual abuse, on top of the trauma of becoming a refugee. As residents of the Queen Street Apartments, we work to support these women in every way that we can.
So, this has been great, but there is so much more to do. There are many more people in this community experiencing hidden homelessness, and these folks aren’t even included in the official numbers. The last point-in-time count was done in the fall of 2021 and showed 1,085 people were experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region. The next point-in-time count is planned to take place in October of this year, and we already know that the number will be drastically higher.
The challenges are great, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that we can give up. And there are glimmers of hope, one of which is the increasing adoption of the Housing First model.
Housing First
Housing First is a model that prioritizes stabilizing people’s lives first and foremost through the provision of permanent housing. It does not require that people experiencing homelessness address all of their issues, including behavioural health problems or graduate through a series of programs before they can access housing, as other approaches require. It is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities, such as food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical such as getting a job, budgeting properly or addressing substance use or mental health issues.
A Housing First approach can be applied to help end homelessness for a household who became homeless due to a temporary personal or financial crisis and has limited service needs, and it has been found to be a particularly effective approach to end homelessness for high need populations, such as chronically homeless individuals. It has also been found to be cost efficient. Providing access to housing generally results in cost savings for communities because supported and housed people are less likely to use emergency services, including hospitals, jails, and emergency shelter, than those who are homeless.
A CBC news article titled “How a steady place to live helped this Londoner find sobriety and meaningful work” shares the story of one woman – Korrine MacCormick – who was helped by the housing first model, and her words are powerful. She says:
In this housing “I was able to feel what I needed to feel. I was able to connect with healthy people. The staff supported me through some of the hardest moments of my life“
“When I first moved in, I struggled. I struggled with being there. I struggled with being housed, having not been properly housed in a decade. “It was scary and at the beginning I was very closed off. The staff would come to my door and I’d be like ‘Beat it. I want nothing to do with you guys. Why are you knocking on my door?”
“I didn’t feel like I deserved a home. I was ashamed of a lot of the things that I’d done.” “But truly everyone is deserving of a home, a safe spot, somewhere warm to sleep, somewhere to have a meal. Everybody.”
Our Response
So, how do we respond to this housing crises? As human beings, we of course can feel bad about the situation, and feel that this is an important issue, but what I want to get at today is, how we are called to respond as a people of faith. The reading from James helps us to understand the role that good works play in Christian life. Verse 17 tells us “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Here James does not mean that faith alone is dead as in not non-existent, but rather that it is useless, ineffective. In other words, James is telling us that doing good works causes our faith to grow and mature. Being doers of the word keeps our faith alive and vibrant and exciting and growing.
The message that we are called as Christians to actively help those who in need is made even clearer in the passage that was read from Matthew:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. ‘
Part of Trinity’s response to the housing crisis – as a congregation – has been to decisively choose affordable and supportive housing as one of our 2 mission areas. And as Cathy noted in her introduction, within the last three years, Trinity has financially supported more than 12 different organizations who directly support those living in affordable and supportive housing.
As a congregation we should ask ourselves if we could increase our financial support to this mission, during this time of deep crisis.
And as individuals, we can contribute time and money to projects that we feel called to support. But I want to end by highlighting another very strong gift that we can use – our voice.
Our voices are important and they matter. People get ‘tired’ of talking and hearing about homelessness, because it’s complex and hard, and fatigue sets in, but believe me, talking about homelessness is much, much easier than experiencing it. Some people just want the issue to go away, but it won’t. We need to use our voices – to let our political leaders at all levels know that this is an important issue that requires sustained attention, policy and legislative changes, and financial backing.
Voice your support for:
Rent control
An increase to social assistance rates
Initiatives that help people stayed housed during temporary personal or financial set-backs
Increased shelter spaces as an interim solution to help get more people off the streets
funding of supportive housing units for those who have deep mental health and addiction issues
Municipal governments to pass by-laws against ‘bad faith’ renovictions as the City of Hamilton has just done.
Acquisition funds from all levels of government to help preserve existing affordable housing
And finally, speak out in support of stable, secure and affordable housing as a basic human right
