Public Housing In Canada

Introduction

For centuries people have relied on public housing each year in Canada. Public housing is a known problem that does not get talked about often. Public housing is defined as a federal, provincial or local housing program that is provided for people with low incomes (XXX).

This paper will be predominantly focusing on public housing within Ontario. Not only will it look at the basics of Ontario but examine more directly on Regent Park within Toronto. It will discuss what public housing is and the explanation for why it exists, the government housing programs that are present with regards to public housing and the results of the government programs. The Purpose of this essay is to argue that the problem of public housing will never

fully be addressed because of fixed classes and income creates an area that is protected where money and capitalism will always be present.
Explanation for Public Housing
There are a number of households who are in core-need.

Core-need as stated by Banting (1990) as people who are living in an overcrowded environment, no running water, or no flush toilets is at 32% of the population in Ontario. Within the Toronto area there are a number of rent geared to income and co-op housing to help alleviate some of the stress of the cost of rent. Rent geared to income and co-op housing aims to make sure that only 30% of the renter’s income goes towards housing and utilities. Public housing allows the occupier to spend less on rent, in hopes of helping those under the poverty line create a balanced life through a less impoverished

lifestyle.
The need for public housing has been at a stable rate for the past few decades. There are more and more areas that are starting to appear because low income people tend to live around
these neighbourhoods. When there are a lot of rent geared to income properties the rent with in the building may also be lower because people protest the cost of the others rent. A lot of the areas that were once for public housing have started to become more developed scaring the lower income people out of the area. A lot of public housing is built as high-rise apartment buildings and duplexes so they are able to fit as many people as they can into a small area. This shows that there are many people who need the housing provided by the government to help live a life where they are not struggling with more than 30% of their overall income. Even though they are
In Canada it is important to follow the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states in Article 25 that “everyone has the right to a standard living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care” (The United Nations, 1948). With this being a main part of the Human Rights code it helps to show that the government needs to be a part of providing adequate housing for the people in need. Every person that is living in Canada should have the option of proper living conditions. Public housing can help to provide a better life and to satisfy the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A Human Right is very important in public housing because it forces people to look at public housing in a not so negative light.
Reason for Public Housing
There are many reasons as to why public housing is an important aspect to Ontario. Public housing benefits a lot of people from different races, ethnicities and genders. People who are in need of the public housing usually have a low income and are unable to afford the majority of the necessities of life. The average income that someone who needs public housing ranges anywhere from xxx to xxx in a given year (). This shows that there are a lot of people who can only work minimum wage jobs to make their income yet need to have a place to live.
Another reason there is a need for public housing is the number of homelessness that are present through out Toronto. A new initiative that has been started in Toronto is something called a housing first initiative where they try to provide housing for homeless people to try and get them off the street in hopes of being able to find a job easier. This is in hopes of being able to get a lot of people out of hostels and into their own homes so they can start to contribute to society. With being able to house the homeless it makes the neighbourhood look like a better place as well as being able to improve the overall health of the people around.
Another group of people that are in need of public housing are immigrants that come to Toronto in hopes of finding a better life. Most immigrants live with other family members in crowded conditions meaning that they do not live in adequate living conditions. Immigrants who move to Canada do not always have jobs that they have come here for, they are trying to get a better life by moving to Canada. When immigrants move to Canada they usually are demoted from their jobs forcing them into a minimum wage job making it harder for them to make a good salary to provide properly for their family. Immigrants and refugees do not make the money that most other Canadians make, making it more difficult for them to find proper shelter. Public housing helps to set the immigrants up to have a better life by supporting them with somewhere to stay for a better price that is also adequate as well ass being able to integrate better in to society (Murdie et al. 2006).
Government Housing Programs
The government is a very important aspect in the public housing programs. Government is the one that has all the power with the money and control how often, where they open and to help with renovations. There are multiple government housing programs that are available through out Toronto. The government housing that is provided through out Toronto includes co-op housing, rent-geared to income, as well as the Toronto’s Affordable Housing Program.
Government housing through Ontario different stages and acts to help the Canadian people to live better lives with better residency. The National Housing Act which “promoted the construction of new houses, the repair and modernization of existing houses and improvement of housing and living conditions ( ). This is when Ontario took over to manage its own public housing. A lot of the money funding from the federal government was no longer available and each province had to start developing their own public housing while the federal government still had to funding what was already provided. The Ontario Housing Corporation which was funded by rental income and provincial and federal subsidized. A great deal of money was invested into construction large apartment buildings and duplexes to help provide the public housing for the people in need within Toronto. Followed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation who started non-profit and co-op housing promoted through the federal government which then municipal services took over the financial costs of the social housing.
The way that government is involved has changed from previously to now. Government has become less involved over the years making it harder to become accessible. It also has made it more difficult for people to access public housing. When the government has the power to control public housing it becomes a very controversial topic. A lot of people in the community pay attention to the way the government runs public housing whether it during elections or continuous updates on the systems of public housing.
Results of Government Housing Programs
There were many positive results that came from the help of government housing programs within Toronto.

One major example of the help that was put into areas of Toronto is prominent is Regent Park, Toronto before gentrification. Regent Park showed that there are 65% apartments and houses that are market price but then there are 35% of the properties that are rent geared to income (Williams, 2009). Even though this was not a high percentage and was still beneficial to people who worked near the location of Regent Park in Toronto. Making it easier to access everyday necessities can make a lot of other expenses in life go down as well, when you do not have to worry about paying more than 30% of your income. Regent Park had a revitalization project to help turn this area from an area with high poverty rates to a nicer area by demolishing most of the public housing pushing the poorer people out of the area.

Even though there are positives to having public housing there are still some negatives that are present when looking at the way government is involved with housing programs. With having the federal government involved and giving up most of the responsibilities to provincial government it was a loss for the money that would be provided to fixing up and creating new public housing. Like in Regent Park a lot of the public housing that had been made by the federal government has been starting to be demolished to make areas that will bring in more economic

stimulus.
A main negative aspect that goes a long with the way that government housing is run is the reputation that follows with it. There are a lot of low income people that live in the area mixed with people that also have to pay the regular rent of the area. With the development of the low-income housing comes population growth which can cause more harm to the area than good. With having a mix of people as well as the quick population growth within the community it changes the dynamics of the people which brings along a negative stereotype of crime and mischief within the community. With having so many people needing to live within public housing it becomes a lot harder to get a spot to get adequate housing. Once people do get a spot in public housing it is hard to get a new apartment if the family were to expand or getting a transfer with a job.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has explored various aspects to public housing within Toronto. It went into detail about what public housing is and the reason people need it, and the way the government is involved. Additionally, this essay shows how their can be complications that do arise with public housing in different areas of Toronto such as Regent Park. Arguably there are many reasons that people do need public housing and how it affects the