McLaren Housing Society’s
Executive Director
quoted in the House of Commons
The following are excerpts from Burnaby–Douglas MP Bill Siksay’s June 16, 2005
speech (NDP Better Balanced Budget) which quotes a letter sent to him by McLaren
Housing’s Executive Director, JoAnne Fahr:
“Bill C-48 proposes to invest $1.6 billion toward increasing affordable housing
for Canadians, including aboriginal Canadians. That was an area of almost
complete deficiency in the original Liberal government budget. When the budget
came down from the finance minister, the New Democrats were shocked to see
nothing for affordable housing.
In a community such as mine, affordable housing is an absolutely crucial way of
addressing issues of poverty. It is a way of addressing issues of health in my
community. The fact that there was nothing in the Liberal budget was a huge
deficiency.
Housing is a crucial issue in my riding. The high cost of housing on the Lower
Mainland of British Columbia and poverty in my community are also important
issues. Almost 27% of people in Burnaby–Douglas, which is a fairly well-to-do,
middle class, suburban community, live in poverty. A recent survey indicated
that homelessness had tripled in my riding of Burnaby–Douglas. That is just not
acceptable in a society like ours. It was a surprise to many of the folks living
in Burnaby because it is so well hidden. These folks live in substandard housing
and pay far too high a percentage of their income for it. That means they have
to cut back on other things like food and other requirements for healthy living.
I have also been contacted by the McLaren Housing Society and JoAnne Fahr, the
Executive Director. She talks about the housing problems that are faced by many
people living with HIV in the Lower Mainland. I just want to quote from her
note. It says:
Please understand that here in the Lower Mainland I have a wait list of 250 HIV+
men, women and children in critical need of adequate, affordable and safe
housing. This wait list has grown by 50% in my three years on the job. Many of
these folks are living in deplorable conditions having to share filthy bathrooms
and having no kitchen facilities in which to cook nutritious meals, so important
to their health.
McLaren Housing Society was Canada’s first housing program for
people coping with HIV and began in 1987. Since then it has grown from one 5-bedroom house to multiple programs which currently has enough funding for 94
clients. Still, 250 people wait. And I have to tell them to continue waiting
whilst they impose on friends and family or worse, couch surf, live in a vehicle
or in the worst Downtown Eastside hotels you can imagine.
You can assist in this basic determinant of health by recognizing how important
social housing is and applying money to this critical shortage. Please put
housing first. We should not have a homelessness issue in Canada.
I am happy the NDP has fought hard to see there is something in this year's
budget for affordable housing to assist people like the people that Ms. Fahr
describes, who are living with HIV and who require decent housing, and to assist
them not only in living a happy and productive life but also in living a healthy
life.”  |
