CFUW Ontario Council Women Helping Women
Speakers Series February 25
THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS: TWO WORKING SOLUTIONS
February 25, 2023 on ZOOM
Registration is now open for OC’s third Speakers Series of the 2022-23 year. Safe, decent, and affordable housing has become unattainable by lower income families, single parent families – usually led by females, and Black and Indigenous families. This session of the Speakers Series will help us to understand two possible solutions. The event will take place on Saturday February 25 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Please click here to register.
Affordable housing affects not only the lower middle class, but also the homeless whose lives focus on warmth, hydration, and sustenance before finding safe places to sleep once the municipal-approved beds are taken. Such safe places also impact the safety of citizens in downtown areas.
All three levels of government in Ontario have touted solutions to this problem, but have, for the most part, offered few if any workable solutions. Relying on developers to provide a percentage of their developments for affordable housing has not worked well. Even redefining the green belt is likely not to work.
Cooperative housing used to be a solution, but has fallen out of favour. No such units have been approved in years. Life leases may be a solution for a few. Tiny houses defined as houses ranging from 96 to 260 square feet are not approved in all municipalities.
Using Barrie as an example, there are two working solutions to the provision of affordable housing: Habitat for Humanity Huronia and Barrie Housing.
On February 25, Robert Cikoja, the Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity Huronia and Melissa Scott, Operations and Development Manager for Barrie Housing, will outline the growing success of Huronia’s provision of safe, decent, affordable houses for home ownership.
The Speakers Series is free but advance registration is required. Please click here to register.
The start time indicated on your registration confirmation is 10 a.m. which is when the plenary will begin. Please plan to connect to the meeting a few minutes before 10. All attendees in the waiting room will be admitted to the meeting at about 9:55 a.m.
CFUW Ontario Council Standing Committees
Ontario Council Standing Committees in Legislation, Education, and Status of Women and Human Rights were developed to keep members aware of current issues in Ontario. The Committees meet at the discretion of the Committee Chair. Please check out the Committee pages under Advocacy:
Archives
Speakers’ Series reports from 2019 to the present can be found under the OC News menu at the top of the page. Click on Past Speakers Series and Workshop Reports.
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