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

Tue Apr 19 18:39:40 PDT 2022

Thanks David, it is good some of the media are drawing attention to these
issues.  Last year's display of police brutality against Toronto's homeless
was a disgrace to the city and the country.  Hopefully, some change is in
the air come election time.

Greg

On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:01 PM David Walsh via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> 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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