السكن غير اللائق .. أزمة صامتة

Across Canada, there is a severe shortage of decent quality housing that is affordable for low-income people, and much of the housing available is inadequate, even appalling. Poor housing conditions for those below the poverty line exacerbate the complex poverty they already experience, which includes poor health, negatively affected education, and neighborhoods more vulnerable to crime and violence. Using Winnipeg, Manitoba, as an example, Poor Housing examines the real living conditions of low-income people who are forced to live in these conditions. The contributing authors address some of the challenges faced by low-income people in poor housing, including difficulties with landlords who abuse their power, bed bugs, racism and discrimination, and a wide range of other social and psychological impacts. Other selections address the specific housing issues faced by Indigenous people and newcomers to Winnipeg, as well as the challenges faced by individuals living in shared homes. A major theme in this collection is the inability of the private for-profit housing market to meet the housing needs of low-income Canadians, and therefore governments must step in and provide support. However, all levels of government have shown a continued reluctance to invest in decent housing for low-income people. Ironically, the social costs of inadequate housing, and the complex poverty of which it is a part, are almost greater than the costs of investing in subsidized social housing and other relevant anti-poverty measures. Finally, the authors describe a number of creative and successful low-income housing strategies in Winnipeg, including Indigenous housing cooperatives, a renovated 1960s-style public housing complex, and the innovative repurposing of a church in the heart of the city into subsidized social housing. In these successful cases, communities and governments cooperated effectively.