Pubdate: Sun, 29 Apr 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Mary-Martha Hale

UNDERFUNDED SERVICES

The Alliance to End Homelessness applauds the Citizen for stating 
that our community should not be distracted "from the larger problem 
of addiction and homelessness."

The alliance has long appreciated the truly generous and thoughtful 
people in Ottawa and their efforts to help homeless people. In our 
third report card on ending homelessness we documented that 9,010 
people were homeless in 2006 and also concluded that we need to 
increase the resources that target "the reasons why people become 
addicted or homeless in the first place."

The City of Ottawa needs to step up its pressure on the province to 
increase mental health and addictions treatment and support services 
in our city. Insufficient funding from the Ontario government is 
having a direct and increasingly negative impact on services in our 
community, from housing to public health to policing.

At the same time, politicians at all levels need to recognize -- and 
act on -- the reality that homelessness will continue until our 
governments move beyond small, incremental increases in the supply of 
affordable and appropriate housing and equally small increases in 
income levels for benefits such as Ontario Works, Ontario Disability 
Support Program benefits and in the minimum wage.

Those in Ottawa who lend a hand or volunteer with homeless people and 
organizations or donate food or some change to "poke a hole in the 
wall between panhandlers and the rest of society" are right to expect 
and even demand changes to public policies that maintain the status 
quo and continue to create homelessness.

Mary-Martha Hale

Nepean

Chair, Alliance to End Homelessness

Director, Centre 454
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman