‘|Manitoba Communist Party:

‘Need adequate
low-cost housing

Housing, how, where, support-
ed by whom, are the issues rais-
ed in the Housing Brief of the
Communist Party of. Manitoba
to the Federal Task Force last
week. Following is the brief:

Adequate housing for low and
medium income families at costs
or rents they can afford is one
of the greatest needs in our com-
munity.

According to a recent study
conducted by the Winnipeg
Housing and Urban Renewal
Branch, “there are approximately
5,000 families presently domicil-
ed in the City who canriot af-
ford to secure for themselves
safe, sanitary and reasonably
spacious dwelling accommo-
dation in the conventional hous-
ing market.” This is borne out
by the 1965 Taxation Statistics
issued by the Department of
National Revenue which show
that 33 percent of income tax
returns in Winnipeg were for
annual incomes of less than
$3,000; 53 percent were for in-
comes of less than $4,000.

The Interim Report of the
Metropolitan Urban Renewal
Study reveals that 7.1 percent
of housing in Winnipeg or 5,280
units are either in poor or very
poor condition. The deficiency
of housing in the City was esti-
mated between 7,500 and 8,327
units. For the Metro. Winnipeg
area the corresponding figures
are between 12,588 and 15,524
units.

“According to this report, “in
order to meet the net family for-
mation we need in Metropolitan
Winnipeg at least 3,000 dwelling
units each year. Approximately
3,500 are being built each year.
At this rate it will take at least
25 years or more before the
backlog is caught up, provided
no more houses become sub-
standard in this intervening
period.” :

To meet the growing housing
crisis public housing must play
a greater and more active role.
It has been recognized by most
authorities that only subsidized
low-rental housing, public hous-
ing, can answer the needs of
those low-income families de-
prived of adequate accomoda-
tion. But the achievements in
this respect in Winnipeg are dis-
mally inadequate. To date, only
165 units of low-cost subsidized
housing have been built under
the terms of the National Hous-
ing Act in the Burrows-Keewa-
tin area, An additional 90 units
are in the planning stage. The
Lord Selkirk Development pro-
ject, when completed will consist
of 365 units. Urban renewal in
two other areas is still under
study.

The net results, therefore, are
that 620 units have been built
and planned for to meet an im-
mediate and urgent need of
around 10,000 units. It would be
safe to say that from the time
the Burrows-Keewatin project
was first planned until today, the
decay in housing has proceeded
at a faster pace than the con-
struction of public housing.

The rate of providing subsi-
dized Jow-rental housing must
be accelerated. Clearly, the pre-
sent pace doesn’t meet nor re-
solve the needs of thousands of

"Winnipeg families. ©.
The situation with ‘regard’ to ©

inadequate and sub-standard
housing is even worse in rural
Manitoba. A recent survey made
in Churchill showed that hous-
ing conditions there were
amongst the worst in Canada.
Improved housing and sanitation
stand out as being most essen-
tial to community improvement
throughout the province, This
applies particularly to the Indian
and Metis communities where
the vast majority of homes suf-
fer from inadequate standards of
health and excessive overcrowd-
ing. This neglect is disgraceful
and scandalous and absolutely
impermissible in a society which
boasts that it is affluent and just.

Expanding resource - based
towns such as Thompson also
point up the need for low-rental
housing. In all instances in rural
and Northern Manitoba the per-
formance of all levels of govern-

ment to meet the housing needs ~

has been totally inadequate.

What is required is a federal
crash program to break the log
jam. It cannot be left to the
speculators and land developers
whose main concern is profits,
not the needs of the ‘people. In
the same way that Canada needs
a national water policy, so there
is need for a national housing
policy directed to stimulate the
construction of public low-cost
housing and to make available
funds at low interest rates to
those who wish to build their
own homes. é

The housing needs of so many
of our citizens make a mockery
of our “just society.” Nor should
these needs be sacrificed to the
federal government’s austerity
program. The abandonment of
the Winter Works Program will
only hinder the construction of
additional homes, It is.no won-
der that the Winnipeg City Coun-
cil on September 9 went on re-
cord as protesting the sudden
termination of this program
without adequate notice to the
municipalities. -

Instead of terminating this
program which did provide some
assistance to the municipalities
and did assist somewhat in deal-
ing with the unemployment
problem, the municipalities re-
quire a continuing federal pro-
gram whereby funds would be
made available for approved pro-
jects at low interest rates.

Because of the housing short-
age and high taxes tenants are
faced with-increased rents. There
is a definite connection between
the inability to purchase a home
and being caught in a high-rent

“squeeze. This is a fact of life

today in every urban centre.

In 1967 apartment owners in
Winnipeg received a tax conces-
sion through having their apart-
ments re-classified from com-
mercial to residential properties.
According to the Winnipeg Tri-
bune, this concession amounted
to $6 million. Notwithstanding
this gift from the taxpayers to
the apartment owners, many ten-

‘ants still found their rents rais-

ed. This has spurred on the for-
mation of tenant’s associations
in Winnipeg, as in Thompson
and other centres. The situation
calls for protection to the ten-
ants. We can’t discuss the hous-

_ ing crisis without taking the

plight of the tenants into ac-
count.
When we ‘talk ‘about housing

“neéds we are coricernéd not only

es

with the lack of or the sub-
standard conditions of homes,
but also with the social con-
sequences as they affect the peo-

‘ple who are compelled to live in

them. Back in 1949, in a study
entitled “Canada, Royal Commis-
sion on Dominion Provincial Re-
lations — Housing,” Dr. Grauer
drew the following conclusion;

“Bad housing conditions, par-
ticularly where a whole area is
affected, become a serious social
problem with indirect costs that
must be paid by the taxpayers.
The social results are seen in the
health, morality, employability
and general attitude of the oc-
cupants of thése houses. ‘The
physical conditions of these
dwellings, overcrowding, lack of
fresh air and sunlight, inadequate
water and sanitary conveniences,
improper facilities for food sto-
rage, dampness, vermin and filth
result in a high rate of tubercu-
losis, infant mortality and illness
from infectious diseases. In com-
bination with a bad residential
environment such conditions are
conducive to juvenile delinquen-
cy, vice, crime and demoraliza-
tion of family life.”

In conclusion, we would make
the following specific recommen-
dations;

e The federal government to

launch a crash program to meet
the needs of subsidized low-ren-
tal housing,

e All levels of government
should cooperate to build up a
land bank for public housing
with adequate funds provided by
the senior governments.

e All sales taxes on building
materials should be removed im-
mediately.

e The interest rates on NHA
loans should be reduced and the
federal government should also
make available funds for loans
at low interest rates for the
building of housing for co-opera-
tive ownership.

e NHA mortgages should be
extended to include other than
hew homes. :

e Special attention should be
given to the housing needs of
our senior citizens, the vast
majority of whom have no other
income except their old age pen-
sions and many of whom live
under miserable housing condi-
tions,

e Greater assistance should
be provided by the federal gov-
ernment to the municipalities for
urban renewal projects, The 12.5
percent costs presently borne by
the municipalities loom very
large at a time of municipal tax
crisis. The federal government
subsidies are shockingly low for
a country as rich as ours.

e The costs of education,
health and welfare should be
taken off property taxes and

thus relieve the burden of the
- “homeowner, and the tenant. _

Hunter slams
profiteering

Harry Hunter, former alder-
man in Hamilton, last week ap-
peared before the city’s housing
committee which is peparing a
brief for the Hellyer task force.
The following are excerpts from
his presentation:

It is a compliment to Hamil-
ton’s people that the Hellyer

“task force’ decided not to
come here to try to con us into
believing that the government
really meant to do anything
about the Housing Crisis which
they already know all about
from an academic and political
point of view. I am fairly sure
that among the “experts” of the
“task force” there are none who
earn $4,000 to $6,000 a year or
less with three or four young-
sters to house. I am fairly sure,
also, that there are no newly
wed young people starting life
on low wages, or older people
now trying to live out their
years in the homes they built
as security for their old age. No
man or woman who lives in the

real world in Hamilton can fail

to recognize that there is, and
has been for sometime, a ter-

-rible situation created for a

great number of families simply
because there is a scandalous,
cruel scarcity of decent housing
accommodation. We can build
anything and everything in great
quality and quantity, but not
enough houses. Why?

For one thing, and I think it
is the main thing, a shortage of
accommodation creates a big

and_ juicy market for profiteers:
and speculators. The “free enter-

prise” principle of competition
runs wild so that the poor and
middle income families are forc-
ed into buying or renting ac-
commodation at the point of a
gun—pay up; sign on the dot-
ted line; or live in the streets.
The “take” or more politely, the
profit, from this is enormous. It
comes from the pockets of
working men and women who
try to raise their families in de-
cency. No research is needed to
prove that. Thousands of Hamil-

tonians know this from their.

own lives.

I am dedicated to the idea
that the dominant motive of pro-
fit in housing has to be replaced
with service to people.

I contend that until, and un-
less governments act on the pre-
mise that housing be regarded
as a public utility we will sim-
ply be blowing in the wind. Eu-
ropean experience proved that
long ago. There is no stigma at-
tached in Europe, as there is
here.

A new approach and more
imaginative action is needed at
the federal level on the housing
issue. There has been enough
study. What is needed now is
action. ‘

Housing must be treated as a
public utility; land speculation
and private profits must be tak-
en out of housing. Various in-
come levels must be mixed in
housing developments to put an
end to discrimination based
upon private profit motives and
narrow considerations must be
rejected, with a powerful in-
itiative from the federal govern-
ment. Buck-passing arguments
about constitutional jurisdiction
must be rejected in order to
come to grips with the problem.

A crash program for subsi-
dized low rental housing is

‘called for. Perhaps as much as

many millions of dollars is need-
ed in a housing fund to provide
interest-free loans for the build-
ing of homes: co-operative as
well as for individual ownership.
There is an urgent need to re-
build the core area of our cities,
renovate older homes, and to
expropriate slum landlords.
Where expropriation of homes
are needed for projects then the
principle of a Home For a Home

eShould appiye ee

‘*7 ** DACFIC TRIBUNE-OCTOBER 25, 1968Page’S

« JOOAS

> yas

sn eras
be ee: