Many things have changed since my posts last year. Some of you may know that I have moved to Victoria to join the Provincial Government. I now work as a Policy Analyst for the Ministry for Children and Family Development. It's been a great move and I really enjoy the job.
I also volunteer with InnovativeCommunities.org. This organization works to bring social justice to various aspect of our live both here and internationally. you can read more about the work here: www.innovativecommunities.org
I will try to make this a regular post from now on. Stay tuned..........
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Resources, Taxes and Those 'Lazy' Poor People
Not sure where to start.
On Monday afternoon I went to the book launch of “A Wealth of Resources: Cheap, Free and Savvy Options in Kamloops, BC.” The book was compile by Skylark and offers resource options organized by the category that you are looking for. It is pretty user-friendly and a must-have, I think, in every social agency office. These kinds of initiatives deserve, require, our support. After all, your agency is listed at least once in this resource and you have to do nothing except purchase one or two copies for the office ($25 each). That’s cheap advertising! Do your part and check it out: www.themoneycoach.ca What amazes me most is the amont of work and research someone has to go through to make things affordable for themselves.
I recently heard (later announced on CBC Radio One) that there is a proposal floating in Kelowna that a 1% tax be levied on new development permits to address affordable housing. It is estimated that the annual income from this tax would be about $3 million. Of course, this would not be nearly enough to build even an inadequate amount (estimates are that they are short about 6000 units) but it can certainly go a long way in leveraging money from other sources. Perhaps we need to look at similar creative ways in Kamloops and other cities. I do have a problem with this, however. To what extent is this kind of initiative relieving the province and Ottawa of their responsibility for affordable housing? Will the burden of safe and affordable housing units fall onto individual municipal governments by incremental progression of these kinds of initiatives? Thomas Walkom’s article on the Rabble web site (originally in the Toronto Star) this week addresses some of these issues. It is titled, “Why Our Strategy is Short-sighted.”
Having browsed through Skylarks book and reflected on the incredible shortage of safe affordable housing in our province, it is unclear to me how anyone can say that the poor (and those that help/advocte for them) are not hard workers.
On Monday afternoon I went to the book launch of “A Wealth of Resources: Cheap, Free and Savvy Options in Kamloops, BC.” The book was compile by Skylark and offers resource options organized by the category that you are looking for. It is pretty user-friendly and a must-have, I think, in every social agency office. These kinds of initiatives deserve, require, our support. After all, your agency is listed at least once in this resource and you have to do nothing except purchase one or two copies for the office ($25 each). That’s cheap advertising! Do your part and check it out: www.themoneycoach.ca What amazes me most is the amont of work and research someone has to go through to make things affordable for themselves.
I recently heard (later announced on CBC Radio One) that there is a proposal floating in Kelowna that a 1% tax be levied on new development permits to address affordable housing. It is estimated that the annual income from this tax would be about $3 million. Of course, this would not be nearly enough to build even an inadequate amount (estimates are that they are short about 6000 units) but it can certainly go a long way in leveraging money from other sources. Perhaps we need to look at similar creative ways in Kamloops and other cities. I do have a problem with this, however. To what extent is this kind of initiative relieving the province and Ottawa of their responsibility for affordable housing? Will the burden of safe and affordable housing units fall onto individual municipal governments by incremental progression of these kinds of initiatives? Thomas Walkom’s article on the Rabble web site (originally in the Toronto Star) this week addresses some of these issues. It is titled, “Why Our Strategy is Short-sighted.”
Having browsed through Skylarks book and reflected on the incredible shortage of safe affordable housing in our province, it is unclear to me how anyone can say that the poor (and those that help/advocte for them) are not hard workers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)