In response to “Generosity doesn’t solve poverty” Winnipeg Free Press article December 17
Mary Agnes Welch is right when she says charity is “not fixing the province’s most serious problem. However, her critique of provincial anti-poverty efforts falls short. Complex problems, like the kind of poverty that exists and persists here in Winnipeg, require multi-faceted responses. We need to build on what’s working in Manitoba if we are to solve the problems of poverty here.
The State of the Inner City Report is an annual research collaboration between the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba and community organizations based in the inner city of Winnipeg. This year marks its tenth year anniversary. Since the beginning, the State of the Inner City Reports have celebrated community-based development and advanced progressive policy alternatives put forward by those working and living directly in the community.
Winnipeg is home to Canada’s largest Aboriginal population. Aboriginal people, however, are among the most likely to experience homelessness and are also over-represented in housing that is unaffordable, overcrowded or in poor condition. Finding housing has become a wall preventing many Aboriginal people from successfully making Winnipeg home. Moving to the City: Housing and Aboriginal Migration to Winnipeg documents the housing experiences of Aboriginal people moving to Winnipeg.
New report suggests policy fixes, garners huge community support
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) launched its report, Moving to the City: Housing and Aboriginal Migration to Winnipeg before a packed room at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House on Tuesday.
Winnipeg, MB – Dec 8, 2014
Report launch: Moving to the City: Housing and Aboriginal Migration to Winnipeg
Tuesday December 9
11:30 am refreshments
12:00 pm report launch
Circle of Life Thunderbird House – 715 Main St.
By Matt Stock and Evelyn Peters
Homelessness is a major problem in Winnipeg. In 2014 the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council estimated that at any time approximately 350 individuals stayed in one of Winnipeg’s homeless shelters, 700-1,000 individuals were in single room occupancy hotels, and 1,400 stayed with friends or family in order to avoid living on the streets or in homeless shelters. These numbers are in line with aggregate estimates for Canada.
A Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba report
by Josh Brandon and Evelyn Peters
by Sarah Cooper
Manitoba is losing subsidized rental housing units—a delayed result of the federal government’s withdrawal from funding social housing in the 1990s. As operating agreements between the federal government and housing providers expire, the subsidies expire with them. As a result, nonprofit housing organizations and housing cooperatives are having to make tough decisions. Many subsidized units have already been lost; many more are likely to be lost in the next two decades.
By Josh Brandon
Despite high demand for housing in Winnipeg, some new non-profit housing projects are having difficulties filling some of their suites. Housing that has been officially designated as “affordable” is sitting vacant. Frontline housing advocates are rightly concerned.
By Molly McCracken and Susan Prentice
This week hundreds of educators, academics and activists gather in Winnipeg for the fourth national childcare conference. They are united by a vision of a universal early childhood education and child care system in Canada. Here in Manitoba, we have made steady progress toward this goal. A strong federal partner at the table would take things to the next level.
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