Proper housing for the poor can help fix a variety of social ills, experts say

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By James Foster
Times & Transcript Staff

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More than one in 10 New Brunswickers lives in housing they either can't afford, is badly overcrowded or is substandard.

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Greg Agnew/Times & Transcript

Cornerstone Co-operative Housing Ltd. celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday. Ken Elliott, president of the Canadian Housing Federation of Canada presented Cornerstone president Alice McCracken with an award for 25 years in the co-operative.

That won't change without the full commitment of all three levels of government to tackle the problem, two experts in affordable housing said yesterday.

"Every level of government, they have an obligation towards that end," says Wayne Dempsey, president of BRUNCH, an organization which represents all housing co-operatives in New Brunswick.

"There's a constant need, 365 days of the year."

Ken Elliott, president of the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada and New Brunswick's representative on the CHFC, says there's simply no other way.

"We could go out to the caisse populaire or credit union and borrow millions to build co-ops, but the units wouldn't be affordable because the cost of construction is so high."

The answers to the problem involve not only more co-op housing, but government help to build housing units where rents are subsidized.

Both men were in Moncton yesterday to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of Cornerstone Co-operative Housing Ltd., boasting 113 units on Preston Court.

Housing co-ops are a legal association formed for the purpose of providing homes to its members on a continuing, break-even basis, dedicated to decent, affordable housing for all.

Co-ops are controlled by their residents, who have a vote in decisions about their housing. There is no outside landlord.

In a typical Canadian co-op, from one-quarter to three-quarters of households pay a reduced monthly charge, based on their income. The others pay the full monthly charge set when the members approve the co-op's yearly operating budget. The full monthly housing charge rises only as the co-op's costs increase.

Dempsey and Elliott point out that study after study has shown that once people enjoy an affordable, safe place to live, their health care costs go down, as do crime rates, substance abuse and marital strife, while things like literacy and education levels go up.

They argue that solving the housing crisis will also help solve other social ills.

"Yet we don't yet have a national housing policy to address this," Elliott says. "It's just a crying shame."

On a brighter note, Cornerstone's 25th anniversary bash saw awards to long-serving co-operative volunteers, short speeches, visits by Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe MP Brian Murphy and provincial Minister of Social Development Mary Schryer as well as by Atlantic People's Housing Ltd. and officials who developed and manage Cornerstone, all amid a large gathering of residents who served sandwiches and cool drinks to their guests.