—T © Only a week after Transport Minister Paul Hellyer’s Task Force on Housing came to Toronto a family of nine was forced to camp in the mayor's office until a home could be found. : There is no question which has received more study and less action than the question of housing. At present there is this circus travelling across Canada hearing “some” briefs and not hearing others, wandering into the areas of poor housing, to get pictures taken and generally substi- tuting talk for government legislation. There were about 50 organizations who prepared briefs for presenta- tion in Toronto, and only 20 were heard. Here are some of the viewpoints expressed in these documents, all of which express the deep concern over the inordinate delays that are taking place in Canada to find solutions to the housing crisis. THE UNIONS The following are excerpts from the brief of the Labor Council of Metropo- litan Toronto: In the past, housing was considered as an individual matter and the res- ponsibility of the individual and the family, working on its own. This con- cept has to give way, to that of social and public responsibility, just as has happened in the field of education and health. The individual cannot go it alone. We must move forward with the community, the Province, the coun- try as a whole. The idea is often woven into. our socal fabric that it is more dignified to be paying monthly to a mortgage company than monthly rent. We should question whether all Can- adians must aspire to a home of their own on their own lot and surrounded, if possible, by a white picket fence. Canada’s population is becoming In- creasingly concentrated and authori- ties predict that soon, most Canadians will be living in from 15 to 20 large centres. Private industry, private capital, private initiative and the private de- velopers d> not have the answers—at least for the large section of the popu- lation which has a limited income. It is necessary for governments to act with vigor. Land speculation and high interest rates are two of the major contribu- tors to the excessive cost of housing. Both of these blockades can and should be removed as obstructions to public housing requirements. Mortgage inter- est rates should not exceed 5 percent. There appears to be plenty of hous- img available for those in the high- money brackets. Federal legislation has discriminated in favor of this group. This trend must be reversed. There must be an immediate and cOn- tinuing crash program involving large sums of public funds directed to prOv- ide housing for those most in need— the lower income groups. The need to house low-income fami- lies should command the highest priOr- ity. The low-income family has always : + : ede . = : - i Pee. Eves aan . ne "4 Pee PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 18, 1968—Page 6 - ek SAREE REM SES UBS been badly neglected when it comes to the provision of adequate housing. The Labor Council of Metropolitan Toronto respectfully proposes that the following three suggestions be imple- mented immediately to alleviate the housing shortage in the Metropolitan Toronto area: e EXTENSION OF REGENT PARK HOUSING We urge you to use your influence to re-activate the proposal of the To- ronto Housing Authority to build 108 additional units on city-owned land in the Regent Park north area. e MALVERN PROJECT We also urge you to strive for the rapid implementation of the proposed Malvern project embracing 1,700 acres with emphasis on a substantial por- tion. being allocated’: for low-cost housing. e MIMICO REFORMATORY We further urge that the Mimico Reformatory site be reconstituted as a housing development with emphasis once again, placed on low-cost hous- ing. As a continuing program the Labor Council of Metropolitan Toronto res- pectfully proposes the following: e Establishment of full time minis- tries of urban development and hous- ing at Ottawa and Queen’s Park. @ Creation of permanent machinery for joint consultation and cooperative action between these ministries and the municipal housing authorities. @ Massive land-assembly programs by the provincial government with funds made available under the Na- tional Housing Act. This federal money should be provided with adequate safeguards, for planned urban deve- lopment and priority to public hous- ing, including housing for senior citi- zens, ‘schools, health and recreation centres and essential services. e All levels of government should give top priority to the housing of families earning $6,000 or less yearly. A substantial portion of federal mort- gage funds should be directed into public housing. a3 e Where necessary and desirable, expropriate the professional land spe- THE ST From Issue, Canadian Union of : Students newspaper. Housing is of immediate concern to students—one of the first impin- gements of social reality on our edu- cational lives. It eats up meagre pro- vincial loans, isolates us from other students and removes whatever con- trol we thought we could exert over our environment. ‘But it is not a problem unique to students; the same conditions exist, often in more aggravated form, for the rest of the community. And it is usu- ally these people, especially those in the lower classes, who suffer directly every time the student condition is “improved.” Any first year economics text will tell you what the problem is: a short- age of houses, with high demand lead- ing to exorbitant rents. However, that is not to say that capital is not available to build houses. Land, labor and resources are there; they are simply being used to benefit the few instead of the many. The problem, then, becomes a poli- tical one and requires a political solu- tion. In order to remove the stumbling block of guaranteed profits for private capital (although Central. Mortgage and Housing will give a 90 percent loan for student housing, the other 10 percent must be borrowed on the’ market—for no good reason) there must be an effective, organized poli- tical force. In many areas improvements in the students’ condition has led to increas- ing hardship for the laborer. In urban _centres universities expropriate land “Canadians must change their at- titude toward housing as a social need and adopt a ‘discriminatory housing policy—in favor of low-income people —if we are really to solve our housing problem. . “This change of attitude—which amounts to a complete reversal of na- tional housing policy—must be accom- panied by federal-provincial planning, not merely from year to year, or even for five years, but at least for several deéades, if not for the remainder of the century. “So writes Dr. Albert Rose, profes- sor at the University of Toronto School of Social Work, in a 117-page document prepared for the forthcom- ing Canadian Conference on Housing (Toronto, October 20-23), The confer- ence is sponsored by the Canadian Welfare Council, and is the culmina- tion of two years of research and planning, financed largely by the fede- ral government through Central Mort- gage and Housing Corporation. Dr. Rose’s Paper is the. second of several to be released to the 500 invited par- ticipants in advance, “Dr. Rose declares: ‘The most im- . portant change that could be made in our national housing policy would be a formal declaration that the federal and provincial governments intended, during the balance of ‘this century,: to discriminate in, favor ‘of families and. Co a ee F . took the place p 2 Se Ww, ., es the 20th will, bout Century ae Simply | ne Sea ee ee BS DENTS for residences, thus : meagre housing are away the ble Landlords adq able. F In Ottawa a family ae to ee home when the $85-a-month, ay i pusedeep to $135. week ia the place was divideq into es a _ Ha fered to students at $1800, S and of Toronto students ave ae come aware of tpi Teady be- S he students Se the ¥ where else to go, © must aie ee nize the Problem Of contro} THe ie eed who Occupy an accommo datiet s i determine its makeup; students oie a ‘Veto power over student u g Pp Ojects, Slum-dwellers hi uld have eee Over “urban = * te Prick - The alternative is contin Chnising ersOnlike resiq d housing Projects.” €nces an , Students have 5 a een bj 5 the housing situation aera about now, but little has een don me es an effective Political pro * € to build | in the U s Such a force ao be a Council's : recengeucent Administrative the Community” ™phlet “Housing plans for movin tions at Simon Fy control are aap things Such as rent as And government wil] ee at best. the need until thos Tr really fill power, And ie; 0 a. ponte : at n 7 those outside the ‘ Working with the same Problem. Ye? Sity who have ORKERS individuals at the income distribution tom half of the says includes yr group he members of ot dians. and with dependent chronically jj ma “Dr. Rose _ Y women hildr n; families of > 4nd so on. ane aus attitude to © Policia - on ae s Or housing fan assist- @O z ® 2, ° =] © s ance to the ve people to whom be Or, he riate to give aggi.,, S2V8 i is g the dependent ones, a in a din noe already self-sy. <5 Ose comes are inh a Hg b Meas private housin groups Constitute ese 0. our population, h aeeke than hale “Dr. Rose wa Stimates. no modern cou lect its €xistin though its nation, “Sing st i } . na oO * ‘Ock, Al- DEER Honey to the a Policies the great bun the fact remsttuction live, at least Of the po ains that D 5 for th Pulation will century, in housin : Ce of this been constructeg_ Which i ing, through failure force standards es occupanéy re Ulat; ainten mean that the > uons awnicipalities that Cy a eee ee 3 ‘