[Sundaycommunity] FW: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts

[David Walsh]

It is difficult to believe this is happening in our city.

NOW - Op-ed: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts
Spadina-Fort York MPP Chris Glover says the firing of street nurses in Toronto exacerbates the homelessness crisis

Apr 18, 2022
Op-ed: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts (nowtoronto.com)<https://nowtoronto.com/news/op-ed-43-street-nurses-are-gone-due-to-ford-government-funding-cuts?utm_source=nowtoronto.com&utm_campaign=358c3a9704-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bfaa0e1d4c-358c3a9704-81138686>

It's incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We have a homelessness crisis<https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness> compounded by an opioid epidemic and people dying on the streets every day. The City of Toronto is often criticized for its handling of this crisis, but the real blame lies with the provincial and federal governments.

The roots of today's crisis date back decades. In the early 90s, the federal and provincial governments were building 10,000-15,000 affordable housing units per year - mixed income co-ops, public housing and supportive housing for people with mental health and addiction issues. In the mid-90s, the federal Liberals cancelled the federal housing program. The Ontario government then downloaded it onto the city. Since then, almost no affordable or supportive housing has been built.
The reason so many people with mental health challenges and intellectual disabilities are homeless dates back to the early 80s, when federal and provincial governments began closing large residential mental health institutions like the Queen Street Mental Health Centre and transitioning people into group homes in the community. Then the governments stopped building group homes.
If failing to provide housing for the most vulnerable wasn't enough, Premier Mike Harris cut Ontario Works (welfare) rates by 21.6 per cent in 1997, arguing that people could survive on a "welfare diet" of pasta without sauce and dented cans of tuna. Successive Conservative and Liberal governments since then have let inflation reduce it further. If you're wondering why we have a homelessness crisis, the Ontario Works rate of $733 per month is not even enough to rent a room.
Greed compounded the growing homelessness crisis. In the 90s, pharmaceutical companies like Purdue began aggressively marketing opioids for pain relief, downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs and creating the opioid epidemic that killed more than 5,000 Canadians in 2021.
It's incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We have a homelessness crisis<https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness> compounded by an opioid epidemic and people dying on the streets every day. The City of Toronto is often criticized for its handling of this crisis, but the real blame lies with the provincial and federal governments.
The roots of today's crisis date back decades. In the early 90s, the federal and provincial governments were building 10,000-15,000 affordable housing units per year - mixed income co-ops, public housing and supportive housing for people with mental health and addiction issues. In the mid-90s, the federal Liberals cancelled the federal housing program. The Ontario government then downloaded it onto the city. Since then, almost no affordable or supportive housing has been built.
The reason so many people with mental health challenges and intellectual disabilities are homeless dates back to the early 80s, when federal and provincial governments began closing large residential mental health institutions like the Queen Street Mental Health Centre and transitioning people into group homes in the community. Then the governments stopped building group homes.
If failing to provide housing for the most vulnerable wasn't enough, Premier Mike Harris cut Ontario Works (welfare) rates by 21.6 per cent in 1997, arguing that people could survive on a "welfare diet" of pasta without sauce and dented cans of tuna. Successive Conservative and Liberal governments since then have let inflation reduce it further. If you're wondering why we have a homelessness crisis, the Ontario Works rate of $733 per month is not even enough to rent a room.
Greed compounded the growing homelessness crisis. In the 90s, pharmaceutical companies like Purdue began aggressively marketing opioids for pain relief, downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs and creating the opioid epidemic that killed more than 5,000 Canadians in 2021.
Since then, federal and provincial governments have consistently refused to make the investments to bring an end to homelessness, to provide supportive housing for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health challenges and to provide the treatment necessary for people to overcome addictions.
As an MPP, I often receive complaints from residents and business owners about the homelessness crisis. And they are absolutely right. We have people living in crisis and too often dying in our streets. Communities and businesses are left to deal with the impacts.
But community members and businesses alone cannot fix the crisis created by provincial and federal governments. Only the federal and provincial governments can solve it. And right now, the Ford government is firing 43 street nurses.
Chris Glover is an NDP MPP representing Spadina-Fort York in the Ontario legistalture.

John Tory's failure of leadership on homelessness is a shame
It's becoming harder to explain away the mayor's inaction when his allies on council are being dispatched to provide cover and do his dirty work
John Tory's failure of leadership on homelessness is a shame - NOW Magazine (nowtoronto.com)<https://nowtoronto.com/news/john-torys-failure-of-leadership-on-homelessness-is-a-shame>
BY ENZO DIMATTEO
Oct 8, 2021


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