“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”

… The study did not include people who are street-entrenched or who have serious addictions or mental health issues, Zhao noted, adding people who fit that criteria do not make up the majority of homeless people.

I think the Doctors estimate of the numbers of homeless affected by mental health, substance and or alcohol abuse issues is a bit on the optimistic side. But the face of the homeless is likely changing due to the housing crisis forcing victims without addictions or mental illness onto the streets.

This advocacy group posts higher incidence rates than he suggests: “Let’s start by looking at how many people who are currently experiencing homelessness actually have a mental illness or a substance use disorder. Based off of the 2019 Point in Time Count that was conducted this past January, only 33 percent of the people who were unsheltered reported substance use disorders, and only 26 percent reported mental health issues.”

This UK site has a study with much higher numbers.

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Why an Ontario city is now permitting homeless encampments and tiny homes in parks

Canada’s homelessness crisis went from bad to worse during the pandemic years, as encampments popped up in municipalities across the country. In the past, these tent cities were forcibly removed by local law enforcement. (For example: the now infamous operation to remove encampments in various Toronto parks.) But this month the city of Hamilton approved a fresh approach—one that acknowledges encampments as an interim reality of the housing crisis and attempts to balance the needs of all community members.

You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent! You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent!

The internet tells me this classic confrontation between a greedy landlord and a penniless young damsel dates back at least to an 1867 play called “Under the Gaslight.” (Gaslight, indeed!) We boomers had it embedded in our consciousness by the cartoon series “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” which several subsequent generations have probably seen in re-runs.

Building 2.2 million purpose-built rental units in under a decade sounds like an impossible task.

Despite the obvious challenge, a roundtable of housing experts from the private and non-profit sectors is providing the government of Canada with 10 recommendations on how to achieve this goal.

Canada will have to build 5.8 million homes over the next seven years to restore affordability, with 2.2 million of that being dedicated to purpose-built rental, according to an Aug. 15 report by housing experts brought together by the Real Property Association of Canada (REALPAC) and Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

“It’s an enormous mountain to climb, given that we’ve only built 570,000 units of rental housing in the last 30 years. We are talking about tripling – almost quadrupling – in seven years what we’ve built in the last 30 years,” said Michael Brooks, CEO of REALPAC, an association of executives in Canadian commercial real estate.

If these numbers are true we are well and truly fecked.