Affordable Housing

Here’s a chance to deepen your housing knowledge—an online book club every other month to discuss books about housing. Organized by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, the next discussion is Friday, June 13, 1:30-3 p.m. The book is This House is Not a Home by Katlia Lafferty (two copies in the Hamilton public library … Read more

The Speech from the Throne that opened the latest session of the federal Parliament this past Tuesday was vague, as speeches from the throne always are—even vaguer than campaign pitches. Given that, it’s worth noting that housing was mentioned more often than the other focus areas of our congregation.  There were six references to housing … Read more

First, the city cleared people experiencing homelessness from parks. For the past two weeks, they’ve been clearing them out of the wooded area along the rail trail between Wentworth and Gage. Threatened with tickets that they can’t pay, people are scared and being traumatized as they pack what they can carry and move—where? There is … Read more

The latest provincial budget, released last week, is again frustrating for those committed to expanding the supply of badly needed affordable non-profit and co-op housing. The Ontario government remains focused on supporting further expansion of for-profit housing and the budget never mentions non-profit or co-op housing. But even on its own terms, the government isn’t … Read more

Canada’s new federal housing minister, Gregor Robertson, had barely been sworn in when he was asked a simple question: Do you think prices [for homes] need to go down? He said, “No, I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable, it’s a huge part of our economy. We … Read more