Investing in people: If not now, when?
Hamilton is poised on the brink of a historic investment in poverty reduction, mayor says
This April will be seven years since The Hamilton Spectator first launched its seminal Code Red series revealing the chasm that exists between the poorest and the most prosperous neighbourhoods in Hamilton.
The series, bolstered by research from McMaster University, showed a 21-year gap in life expectancy between neighbourhoods with the highest and lowest rates of poverty.
Working together with community partners, most notably The Hamilton Community Foundation, the city rolled out the Neighbourhood Action Strategy in 2010. With support from community workers, residents in 11 neighbourhoods have built action plans to leverage strengths, address challenges and build healthier communities.
On April 5, 2017, council will be meeting in general issues committee to receive the report from staff on a plan to increase affordable housing and reduce poverty by investing in people, across all wards in the City of Hamilton.
Investing $50 million over 10 years demonstrates a real commitment to poverty reduction by the City of Hamilton. This investment is a starting point to leverage further provincial, federal, and private investment in poverty reduction.
Coming as it does from the Future Fund and a dividend from our recent utility merger, this investment will have no impact on our property tax levy.
We would not have arrived at this point without the support of Coun. Chad Collins who seconded the original motion for the development of the proposed poverty plan, and encouraged its subsequent emphasis on housing. Nor without the support of the rest of my council colleagues who have worked with staff and the community to forge a will to act on poverty.
Council has often answered the call to serve our most vulnerable. The leadership of our public health and social services staff and their consultation in the wider community has been crucial in developing this initiative.
The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction formed in 2005 to tackle the city’s unacceptable levels of poverty has done much to keep us all focused on the need to confront the poverty in our midst.
This new municipal investment will target clear gaps with the highest potential impact toward breaking long-term cycles of poverty.
It targets safe, stable, and affordable housing. Broader poverty reduction goals cannot be addressed until housing needs are met.
The plan recognizes that early investment in children and families has the greatest impact on education, employment, and health outcomes for two generations to escape poverty. It further acknowledges the need for Indigenous-led poverty reduction: Indigenous people in Canada and Hamilton face multiple barriers that lead to higher rates of poverty, illness, and homelessness.
Solving Hamilton’s housing and homelessness challenges is critical to the future of our city. As the proposed plan explains, “Research shows housing must be the cornerstone of any poverty reduction plan.”
This challenge is critical to Hamilton’s economic future. Investment in affordable housing and homelessness has a high economic and social return. People who are not appropriately housed cannot participate fully in the economy. Hamilton’s housing and homelessness challenges are complex and resource intensive. Real problems require real solutions.
The economic case for an investment of this magnitude in reducing poverty is a clear one. It is more than an economic return; it is a matter of a social return on investment. This investment represents lives changed for the better and opportunities for all Hamiltonians to thrive.
There are those who will argue that given today’s budgetary environment at city hall, we should preserve in case something else should come along.
For the one-in-five of Hamiltonians who can’t afford to pay their rent or to clothe and feed their children, that something else arrived some time ago. Poverty, homelessness, and hunger remain the most prevailing issues in Hamilton.
Until now, we have had more problem than solution, more issue than money.
The City of Hamilton is poised on the brink of a historic investment in poverty reduction.
We invest in infrastructure. Now we have an opportunity to invest in people. An investment in our people will result in savings in Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support payments, an increase in positive health and educational outcomes, and in tax revenue essential to the maintenance of a modern city.
Evidence continues to mount that there is a clear link between poverty and cost pressures on our publicly funded health care system. We want all Hamiltonians to participate in the prosperity of our city.
Poverty in our city has a price tag. We pay now or we pay much more, later. The only question left to answer as a community, for those in most need, is if not now, when?
For 20 per cent of Hamilton’s residents today is the right time.