Why questions remain in London about the National Housing Strategy

While the Ontario government and the City of London laud the federal government's new National Housing Strategy, a London man who's lived in public housing for 17 years questions whether the strategywill provide adequate supports for the vulnerable people who live there.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an ambitious 10-year $40 billion National Housing Strategythat will see Ottawa build 100,000 new public housing unitsand renovate another 300,000 units across Canada.

At CronynGardens, a public housing highrise operated by the London MiddlesexHousing Corporation, 17-year resident Graham McGeorgesaid while the federal announcement is welcome news, he questionedhow the federal government plans to provide adequate supports for the people living in public housing.

"Where is the security and frontline staff going to come from to operate all this great housing?" McGeorge asked, noting there isn't enough help as it is for juvenile offenders or the mentally ill,who often end up living in public housing.

'They need supports'

'They need supports'

7 years ago

Duration 0:35

'They need supports'

The aggressive plan from Ottawa promises to get 530,000 people in need of housing off of wait lists across Canada,while simultaneously protecting another 380,000 Canadians, whom the government said are in jeopardy of losing an affordable place to live.

The decade-long Liberal plan also pledges to reducehomelessness nationwide by 50 per cent, while providing supports for people who are on wait lists for low income housing.

"We're looking for straight up dollars going into our communities," saidLondon Homelessness Coalition spokesman Abe OudshoornWednesday. "Provinces and municipalities have been carrying the costs of housing for a very long time."

Tailored solutions for youth, women, aboriginals

Right now London has about 3,000 families on wait list for affordable housing and close to 3,000 people who access emergency shelters in a given year.

The problem, according to Oudshoorn is how the plan is going to affect different groups with different needs, especially with women, youth and indigenous people, who are overrepresentedin the city's shelter system.

"Our most recent shelter statistics was that 29 per cent identified as Indigenous for accessing shelter, compared to about 2.5 per cent in the general population community," Oudshoornsaid.

"As well we know that women identify violence as the most significant root cause of their homelessness and we know that the number of youth experiencing homelessness is going up in our city."