PERC: Red Tents or Affordable Housing?
Posted January 26, 2011
Jan 16th – The article below is taken from the Peace and Environment Resource Centre in Ottawa, written by Denise Deby.
Dozens of red tents appeared on Parliament Hill last October 19. The tents marked Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy, held to coincide with the third reading in Parliament of Bill C-304, “An Act to Ensure Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing for Canadians.”
About 150 housing advocates from Ottawa, Toronto, London and Montreal, along with the public, attended a rally on Parliament Hill and at the Human Rights Monument. Related events took place in 10 other Canadian cities. Over 20 national and local housing groups organized the tent event. They include Pivot Legal Society, Canada Without Poverty (CWP) Advocacy Network, ACORN Canada, Impact on Communities Coalition, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).
The idea of using red tents to draw attention to governments’ responsibility for housing as a human right came from campaigns in France in 2006 and in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
In Canada, an estimated 300,000 people are homeless, with millions more in substandard or unaffordable housing, reports the non-profit Wellesley Institute. In Ottawa, over 10,000 households are waitlisted for social housing. In 2009, 7,500 people in Ottawa stayed in emergency shelters, according to the Alliance to End Homelessness.
Read the full original article at: http://www.perc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:red-tents-or-affordable-housing&catid=37:current-pen-issue&Itemid=58
Jan 16th – The article below is taken from the Peace and Environment Resource Centre in Ottawa, written by Denise Deby.
Dozens of red tents appeared on Parliament Hill last October 19. The tents marked Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy, held to coincide with the third reading in Parliament of Bill C-304, “An Act to Ensure Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing for Canadians.”
About 150 housing advocates from Ottawa, Toronto, London and Montreal, along with the public, attended a rally on Parliament Hill and at the Human Rights Monument. Related events took place in 10 other Canadian cities. Over 20 national and local housing groups organized the tent event. They include Pivot Legal Society, Canada Without Poverty (CWP) Advocacy Network, ACORN Canada, Impact on Communities Coalition, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).
The idea of using red tents to draw attention to governments’ responsibility for housing as a human right came from campaigns in France in 2006 and in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
In Canada, an estimated 300,000 people are homeless, with millions more in substandard or unaffordable housing, reports the non-profit Wellesley Institute. In Ottawa, over 10,000 households are waitlisted for social housing. In 2009, 7,500 people in Ottawa stayed in emergency shelters, according to the Alliance to End Homelessness.
Read the full original article at: http://www.perc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=99:red-tents-or-affordable-housing&catid=37:current-pen-issue&Itemid=58