| Poverty isn’t a big issue in this civic election, but mayoral candidate Greg Lang wants to make it one.
On the nomination day for election candidates in September, Lang walked into City Hall with a milk jug full of loonies. Other candidates were wearing suits; Lang was wearing jeans. Entering the council chambers, he dumped 100 loonies on the table to pay his registration fee so he could run for mayor.
"I was trying to make a statement," Lang says of his unconventional act. "That was deliberate. Here’s someone who doesn’t have a huge amount of money… but I can still acknowledge the process and take a stand on the issues."
Having worked with non-profit organizations for more than 10 years, Lang wants city council to do more to address the growing problem of poverty in a city that is full of affluence and wealth. While many Calgarians are primarily concerned with getting to work and back faster, others are simply looking for a place to eat, sleep and raise their children.
"I don’t know how we can continue to ignore this problem," says acclaimed Ward 4 Ald. Bob Hawkesworth. "It’s not going away, so somebody’s got to address it."
As chair of city council’s affordable housing team, Hawkesworth is working on tackling poverty in Calgary. But the problem is large and complex. Statistics released in the summer indicate that over 2,500 Calgarians are homeless. Shelters are packed to the max, and if you want to live in affordable housing you’ll most likely be put on a long waiting list. The city’s Calgary Housing Company (CHC) currently has more than 2,000 people waiting to get into its 7,300 subsidized units, and people who live in CHC housing often have trouble moving out because rent at market rates is so high. Market housing generally isn’t an option for people working minimum-wage jobs.
Colin Penman, a program manager with Aspen Family & Community Network Society, says that because subsidized housing has such a long waiting list, getting people into temporary, transitional housing doesn’t help to keep them off the streets.
"We’re not really accomplishing anything other than keeping singles and families circulating around in the same cycle of homelessness," Penman says.
Hawkesworth says that poverty should be a civic election issue to some extent, but he points out the city can only work with whatever is given to it. Most of the funding for affordable housing projects is provided by the federal and provincial governments, and that funding has dropped significantly since 1993.
"We have a role to play, but not the central role," Hawkesworth says.
Lang agrees, but says he’d like to see city council take a stronger position in advocating for more money from the province. With a November provincial election coming hot on the heels of the municipal one, the new council will have the perfect opportunity to make funding for affordable housing and street shelters an issue.
Hawkesworth says he’d like to see Calgary’s social problems get more media attention in the run-up to the provincial election so people – both voters and politicians – can be aware of what is happening. "We need to be louder about this problem for sure, to make sure that it’s addressed by the politicians running in the provincial election," he says.
Hawkesworth claims that, aside from a few organizational flaws, the city is doing well with the money it’s receiving. Mayor Dave Bronconnier recently said the same thing at a mayoral candidates’ forum at the University of Calgary. "Look at what this council has done," Bronconnier said. "We have picked up affordable housing and we have moved on it."
Currently, 132 CHC units are being built in the community of Manchester for low-income singles and couples. As well, a residence for low-income seniors is being built there that will have room for 70 people. But, while these new units will doubtless shorten the CHC waiting list a little, there will still be about 1,800 people waiting for a place to live.
Hawkesworth points to the Manchester project as a step forward, but readily admits it’s not enough.
"I’m proud of (the Manchester project), but we probably need to have 200 units a year every year, now into the future for some time to come, in order to properly address this issue," he says.
That’s council’s plan: about 200 units a year, according to the city’s corporate affordable housing strategy. But is there more that can be done by the city to fight poverty? Floyd Perras, the Mustard Seed Street Ministry’s operations officer, suggests there is. He says the city should take the lead in dealing with homelessness instead of simply waiting for more money from higher levels of government.
For example, Perras says the city could raise taxes by 1/10 of a per cent and give that money to shelters. Even that relatively small move "would make a huge difference in taking care of people."
While everyone has slightly differing opinions on what should be done on the municipal level, all agree on one thing: Ralph Klein’s government needs to share the wealth in Alberta’s coffers with the people who actually need it in this province.
So when the civic election is over on October 18, discussion on this issue won’t end. Most likely, it’s just beginning. |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.