Comment 36589

By d.knox (registered) | Posted December 26, 2009 at 11:55:26

I notice that several articles point out that Hamilton's request has not actually been rejected; rather, other projects have been given a higher priority. So I don't think the Connaught bid is really dead yet.

A few times in various poverty studies I've been reading, Hamilton has been identified as having quite favourable rental rates. We are pointed out as a destination for larger immigrant and refugee families and also as being a much cheaper place to live than Toronto, yet with excellent social services. Kitchener and London do have cheaper rental rates, but don't have the same vacancy rate or the high number of social services that Hamilton does.

Every time I read about people insisting that Hamilton needs more subsidized housing, I wonder what I'm missing. Why is someone who lives in Burlington writing about how Hamilton needs to house more poor people? As far as I understand things, the subsidized housing is only 80% covered by the province - the rest comes out of municipal taxes - that is, out of the property taxes of people who actually live in Hamilton. I don't understand what the incentive is for the city to keep looking for funding to build more subsidized housing when we can't cover our obligations as it is. Isn't it time for other cities to step up and offer to shoulder some of the burden? And could the province actually be taking pity on Hamilton, finally?

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