| Homeless plan
A new action plan to combat the growing homeless problem in Calgary will be released on Friday by the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
Over 100 different groups, including non-profit organizations, the City of Calgary and the federal and provincial governments, participated in developing the 2003 Community Action Plan.
The last comprehensive plan was put together in 1998. Rion Sillito, spokesperson for the Calgary Homeless Foundation, says a lot of progress has been made since then despite the fact that the homeless population has continued to grow dramatically.
"We have more information on the causes of the homeless and the characteristics of the homeless and we have more buy-in from the community (compared to 1998)," he says.
The Calgary Homeless Foundation will post the report on its website www.calgary
homeless.com on Friday.
Meanwhile homeless families in Calgary may have a new option of shelter this winter.
The Calgary planning commission is considering allowing homeless families to stay in the former Westgate Hotel on Bow Trail, which is slated for demolition this April.
Inn From the Cold program manager Theresa McDowell-Hood says if the plan is approved, homeless families would be able to return to the same place every night. Currently many homeless families sleep in different church basements each night.
"There’s a huge need in Calgary right now," says McDowell-Hood. "All shelters are full, overloaded, overbooked."
Freeze cheaters
The Alberta New Democrats say insurance companies are circumventing the government freeze on auto insurance rates.
New Democrat MLA Brian Mason says he’s received numerous letters and phone calls from people who have seen their insurance rates go up despite the freeze that’s in place.
Mason points to a few recent cases he’s heard about that indicate the ineffectiveness of the government freeze.
A man, whose son took his car without permission and crashed it, had to pay $178 more for insurance per month, even though he didn’t claim the accident through his insurance company.
In another case, a bus driver who had his car destroyed in an accident that wasn’t his fault, waited nine months to buy another vehicle. Because of the nine-month gap in insurance coverage, his monthly insurance rate jumped.
Drivers such as these are then having to get insurance through an insurer designed for high-risk drivers, says Mason.
Finance Minister Pat Nelson says the government will take steps to ensure companies are obeying the rate freeze. |
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