Dear editor:
The following is an open letter to Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion from North Bay Pride:
Dear Minister Hussen:
We are in receipt of your latest response to our previous letters outlining the need to end homelessness by giving homes, not temporary solutions. You suggested we reach out to Social Services in Nipissing and other agencies to find out what they have to offer.
Here is what we found out:
Every source of funding is temporary. It all has a time limit on it. And for the projects that were working, like giving homes to the homeless, people ended up homeless again because the funding period ended. Temporary shelters do not work. They are only hiding the problem temporarily.
Funding sources change with each government formed; there is nothing that is stable that goes on until we end homelessness.
It seems that many have forgotten International Human Rights Law that Canada agreed to:
The right to housing was recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Canada formally agreed to comply with the right to housing under international human rights law in 1976 when it ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Here is what must happen:
The Law must be followed, funding must be in place that does not end, and new governments should not be able to change funding when it comes to those that have no house.
Let’s get that started and end houseless folks. The question is, now that we have pointed this out Minister, what will you do now?
Sincerely,
Jason Maclennan
Communications Director
North Bay Pride
