Council must support poverty investment
You can say many things about Hamilton city council, some not complimentary. But you cannot legitimately say council hasn’t done the right thing on issues pertaining to poverty and the people living with it.
When the provincial government took away needed benefits, council stepped in to protect the people left vulnerable. It has supported the work of anti-poverty groups like the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction. Time and again, council has shown its ears, eyes, hearts, and perhaps most importantly, brains, are open to why investing in people and against poverty is smart.
Council will be asked to do that again later today when it is asked to support an anti-poverty strategy put forward by city staff and Mayor Fred Eisenberger with the motion seconded by Coun. Chad Collins. It’s an ambitious plan that would see $50 million invested over 10 years. Twenty million will come from the city’s Future Fund while another $30 million will come from dividends resulting from the Horizon Utilities merger.
That’s significant, because some will argue the city has other priorities that are already driving up taxes. The poverty strategy will not do that. What it will do is attack several key areas that make living difficult for people struggling with poverty.
The key priority is housing. In a commentary published on today’s Comment page, Eisenberger says targeting safe, stable and affordable housing is critical, because “Broader poverty reduction goals cannot be addressed until housing needs are met.” Amen.
Hamilton has a serious shortage, with about 5,700 families on an affordable housing waiting list. There aren’t enough units overall, and too many in the existing stock are in such poor repair they aren’t habitable. This investment will go some distance to addressing that. When the federal government comes through with its housing strategy and investment, that will help as well. The fact that Hamilton didn’t wait for outside help, but rather attacked the problem at a local level, should be an effective lever to tap into support from the feds and province.
Important as it is, housing isn’t everything. This plan also proposes early investment in children and families as well as funding for Indigenous-led poverty initiatives, investment that is overdue considering the extent to which poverty issues affect indigenous people to a disproportionate degree.
The scope of these challenges is huge. While $50 million is significant, it’s not enough by itself. But it’s a solid step in the right direction. It says Hamilton isn’t just talking, it’s investing. It’s setting the right example for other levels of government. Effectively reducing systemic poverty means investing now rather than paying far more later on. This strategy does that, and council should support it, without reservation.