AFFORDABLE HOUSING 'Splendour Without Diminishment BY STEVEN KATONA

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING 'Splendour Without
DiminishmentBY STEVEN KATONA
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A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• WESTERN EUROPEAN

• NORTH AMERICAN

• Laissez-faire urbanization
• Favoured Quarters
• Trolly Dodgers
• Segregated, Isolated
• Ghettos Slums

• Edwin Chadwicks Golden Age
• Englands 1848 public health act
• Englands 1838 Poor laws

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1800S WESTERN EUROPEAN Reforms

• Understanding the urgency for urban reform was
  needed after the outbreak of disease and other
  disasters that could have been prevented with
  sound intervention by state authorities. In
  England the response from the British legal
  system was founded upon the recommendations of
  the 1842 report entitled Report of the poor law
  commissioners concerning the sanitary condition
  of the labouring population of Great Britain.
  This ground-breaking document provided the basis
  for the new governmental regulations that would
  curb the spread of disease in poor districts
  throughout England.

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NORTH AMERICAN AFFORDABLE HOUSING 1800S -1900S

• By the 1800s the United States urban centers
  were few and scattered on coastal locations. The
  city of New York consolidated Manhattan, The
  Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
  During this time the 3.5 million inhabitants
  lived in blighted, degraded tenements. In 1871,
  George Pullman created the town of Pullman,
  where 8000 inhabitants lived in prosperity before
  the ensuing recessions and layoffs. By 1894 the
  resulting strikes and labour actions provoked the
  first use of American federal troops to quell the
  rebellion. By 1960 this community was now
  inhabited by Yuppies on the outskirts of Chicago.

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TODAYS CANADIAN PERSPECTIVE

• As of 2007, the special envoy from the United
  Nations gave Canada a scolding record on the
  right to an adequate standard of living. The
  government of Canada failed to provide the
  statistics towards the amount of homeless there
  actually is in Canada along with the dismal
  display of concern towards the achievement of
  eliminating the disparities between rich and
  poor among its citizens. According to Miloon
  Kothari, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Housing,
  on his trip to Vancouver British Columbia quoted,
  There seems to be a disconnect between the
  economic policies in Vancouver and the social
  policies that need to be in place. In addition,
  Miloon commented, It's glaringly apparent in
  Vancouver that for quite some time... successive
  governments have failed to create the housing
  that is necessary. You have a legacy of misguided
  government policy that has led to this massive
  crisis in housing and homelessness.

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CROWN RESPONSIBILITIES

• PROVINCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• FEDERAL OBLIGATIONS

• Housing Matters BC
• In 1997 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
  began to turn control of existing federal social
  housing programs over to the provinces and
  territories. CMHC did so by means of a social
  housing agreement signed with one province or
  territory at a time. CHF (Co-operative Housing
  Federation) Canada believes this agreement is as
  problematic as the strategy of devolution itself.

• Why do our governments no longer fund adequate
  housing for anyone, including the poor? Housing
  is a "land use" issue. Governments can now be
  sued if they provide housing that competes with
  the private sphere.
• We must get out of the FTA and NAFTA. All we have
  to do is give 6 months notice. But, the Liberals,
  Conservatives, BQ ,NDP and the Greens refuse to
  give notice. They refuse to say no to developers.
• Why? One, they now fear their government will be
  sued for lots of money. Two, their ideology now
  is to serve the elite , not the people. Three,
  their own greed. After their term of office they
  are rewarded with cushy profitable positions in
  corporate boardrooms and do very nicely thank you
  very much. No sleeping on the streets for them.
• The Canadian Action Party says 1) Get out of FTA
  and NAFTA. Give the 6 months notice now. 2) Get
  back to the use of the Bank of Canada to supply
  the money needed..3) Restore the power to the
  people.

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WHATS HAPPENING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA?

• HOMELESS POVERTY?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJbH-prELwwc
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vPUTFex58urM

• AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
• Housing Matters BC, an innovative and
  comprehensive housing strategy to help British
  Columbians access affordable housing, was
  unveiled by Minister Responsible for Housing Rich
  Coleman today. This strategy will immediately
  assist approximately 15,000 low-income working
  families and homeless individuals, said Coleman.
  Its also a new direction for housing, designed
  to provoke discussion about long-term solutions.
  We can only address homelessness and housing
  affordability if we all work together long-term
  solutions require the co-operation of all levels
  of government, as well as organizations and
  volunteers dedicated to housing.
• the Provinces budget for shelters and affordable
  housing is 218 million nearly double what it
  was in 2001. By 2008, spending will increase to
  250 million.

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CONCLUSION"Those Heroic Days"

• We demand a clear disclosure of the country's
  economic situation. We shall not be able to
  emerge from this crisis unless all workers,
  peasants, and intellectuals can play their proper
  part in the political, social, and economic
  administration of the country.
• Workers! We must put it frankly the question now
  is whether we want a socialist democracy or a
  bourgeois democracy.
• The present humiliating system of wages and
  norms, and the disgraceful condition of social
  security benefits, etc. must be reformed
• We recommend a protest strike lasting a maximum
  of two or three days. It should be one that
  extends over all areas of life, expressing a
  discipline and commitment