Human Rights Day Event
Nicole Wilson
Here is what I said tonight if you are interested.
When I was asked to be a part of this panel I was hesitant to say yes
for a couple of reasons. The first being that in the description it
states that we are going to discuss ‘ways to tackle inequality,
poverty and homelessness’. These are such complex issues that I have
been thinking about for the last 10 years, and I am not sure that I
have any concrete ways to tackle them. However, what I do have is
experience talking with people who have dealt with these issues and my
own personal life experience to lead me into a discussion about
possible ways to change the world around us. By being on this panel
today, I am not claiming to know the answer or how to tackle these
issues but to create discussions around what I have seen and how I
understand the situation.
The second reason I was hesitant is that St. John’s Citizens for
Affordable Housing is a very new group with only a few meetings under
our belt. We have not completely ironed out what the aims of the group
are and what our actions will be. This being said we all agree that
the housing situation in St. John’s is horrible and it will only get
worse if we do not act now.
I was suggest by the members of the group to talk with you here today
because I am completing research on Housing Issues and Homelessness in
St. John’s.
For this research I interviewed 15 people, 10 women and 5 men, about
their experiences with housing issues and homelessness in St. John’s.
The experiences of these 15 people range from living on the street and
in tents, to moving back with their parents because they could not
find or afford to keep an apartment.
So I come to you today as part of STCAH and as a researcher. But most
importantly, I come to you as just me, a concerned citizen, who is
passionate about her city and the people in it. I am here today as a
person who’s voice and thoughts are no more or less important than
your own and I am looking forward to your questions and our
discussions.
As I said we are a new group. Our first official meeting was on
National Housing Day (Nov 22) of this year. In this first meeting we
went around the room discussing the reasons why we thought a group
like this was needed. Most people explained that they struggled to
find and keep affordable housing here in St. John’s and that they are
fed up with seeing more and more condo buildings being built instead
of rental units.
One person said “Because I don't see how I will ever be able to
afford a house of my own in St. John's, especially as a farmer,
someone of low-income. Because rent and real estate costs are only
rising, and incomes are not. Because it was hard to find affordable
rent when my friends and I were looking this fall. Because, while I
can manage to pay my own rent currently for a room in a rooming house,
as a single individual, I don't see how I could pay rent in a house
big enough for a family. Because I don't know how I will support
myself as a senior on a pension, especially if I have accessibility
issues and have even more limited affordable options.”
Another member commented that, “when working full time doesn't mean
you can afford to live without fear, rent is too high.”
Over the past few meetings we have discussed what needs to be
addressed within St. John’s. Two of the issues that keeping coming up
are: what is meant by affordable and the need to establish rent
controls.
What does affordable mean? Who’s definition of affordable are we
using? We tend to throw around the word affordable as if everyone has
the same idea as what is affordable. For one family, affordable may be
a 200 thousand dollar home and another family may struggle to put food
on the table, let alone come up with the money for a down payment on a
house. To give you some numbers on this, I by no-means am a
mathematician so please correct me if I am wrong.
The typical down payment for a house is about 10% of the cost. So in
the case of a 200 thousand dollar house this would be 20 thousand
dollars. Now, if you wanted to pay the mortgage off in 25 years with a
4% interest rate, you would have monthly payments of $950. This does
not include the closing costs and property taxes, etc. In order for
these monthly payments to be 30% of your income, you would have to
have a disposable income (which is what the household takes home
after taxes) of at least 33 thousand dollars or 2 thousand 750 a
month. If we change the number of years that it takes to pay off your
mortgage to 35 years you could have lower monthly payments of 800 a
month, which would allow people with lower incomes to be able to
‘afford’ the same house. But the fact that it is taking people the
majority of their working lives to pay for their house is a big red
flag to me about affordability of housing.
These numbers clearly show that a person making minimum wage is no
where near making enough money to purchase their own house, with a
disposable income of about half of what it takes to afford a 200
thousand dollar house.
All of this being taken into account right now the average price of a
house in Newfoundland and Labrador is $249 thousand (CMHC).
How we define affordable changes who we are going to help by creating
affordable housing. If we are defining affordable as a 200 thousand
house we are knocking off the people who take home less than 33
thousand a year and telling them they do not deserve to own their
house.
Moving out of purchasing a house and into affordable rents I will talk
about renting apartments in St. John’s. What is an affordable rent in
St. John’s? For most people that I discuss these issues with the
current rental rates are not affordable to them. Right now the average
rental rate for a 2-bedroom apartment in St. John’s is $744 a month.
Based on the math earlier about being able to afford your own house
with a 35-year mortgage, there is a difference of $56. How is one
supposed to ever save money for a down payment?
This is why we are going to advocate that the province establish rent
controls by the unit. Rent controls are very tricky to manoeuvre
around. It will take a lot of research and policy development in order
to come up with a plan that works not only in theory but also in
practice. Providing protection for both tenant and landlord because
realistically we need the landlords to be on board to make rent
controls work in the community. Unfortunately, my ability to discuss
rent controls is limited. This is not an area that I am very familiar
with but I want to say this is a direction we are looking to go in and
if anyone has comments, pointers or would like to help us achieve this
goal we would love to hear from you.
We have however, come up with some considerations that we must keep in
mind when trying to establish these rent controls. First, we must
think about if the rent control is going to be based on the Unit or
the Tenant? By the unit means one tenant can move out and another
tenant can move in but the cost of the rent can only be raised by a
certain percentage. By the tenant, means landlords are permitted to
increase the rent by whatever percentage they wish once a tenant
leaves their apartment. By the tenant rent control would create more
motivations for the landlord to evict their tenants.
We must also look the Categories of Tenants and Rental Units that
would be covered under the controls. Would people living in rooming
houses, boarding homes, and residential care facilities be covered by
these controls? This could also include the question of what landlords
will be under the constraints of this law. Would this include private
landlords as well as companies?
Thirdly, we would need to consider Condo or Hotel Conversion. Would
the legislation permit landlords to convert their rental units into
condos or hotels? This could create a mass conversion to condos and
hotels, which St. John’s has already seen.
So now I would like to move into a discussion about the research I
have been working on.
Take a moment and think about the image that comes to mind when you
hear the word homeless?
For most people it is a dirty man, who is sleeping on the street or
under a bridge because he is an alcoholic or has some sort of drug
addiction. This particular image is not one that you see much of here
in St John’s, and is probably why the most common statement when I
tell people what I am research is ‘but we don’t have homeless people
here’.
So what does the lack of these visual cues mean in a city such as St.
John’s?
It means that if we go by the stereotypical idea and image of
homelessness, one is correct in saying that homelessness is not a big
problem here.
The St. John’s Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness states
that the problem, in St. John’s, is best understood “as one of hidden
homelessness, in which people are forced to live in unsafe, unsuitable
housing”. These places are often more than they can afford leading to
a cycle of unstable housing, including continuous threats of eviction
and couch-surfing from place to place.
It is this current idea and vision of homelessness and poverty that we
must change in order to make a difference in St. John’s and elsewhere.
If we can show that anyone can end up in these situations and it is
the majority of the people who are living in fear of not being able to
pay their bills, and loosing their houses, than we can create an
understanding of what poverty means and therefore doing away with
perceived inequalities. Getting rid of the stigma around poverty will
enable people to become more open about their issues without fear of
being looked down upon. This I think has been a huge value of the
Occupy movement. As they are clearly showing that those in poverty are
not just these stereotypical images.
All of the 15 people that I have interviewed discussed in one way or
another that being respected and not having this stigma attached to
being poor is a huge issue. Hillary stated that the fact that she had
to move back in with her parents at age 25 while having a university
degree and a full time above minimum wage job was degrading and
embarrassing to admit to new people.
When I asked Linda the question what would a group of women struggling
with housing issues talk about if they got together she replied “tell
you the honest truth
I would be very uncomfortable getting together with a group…like
[that]. I had to go to the food bank the other day and I was so
uncomfortable there because I felt I don’t belong here. I didn’t grow
up this way...I don’t want to be with these people. I don’t want to be
one of these people. I am but I don’t want to be…And I probably won’t
be good in a group of homeless people because I guess I feel like I am
better than them because I was raised that way. I was raised with no
thought of money if I asked for money I got money…You know I sailed
through life easy…For years and years…Its’ hard.
The thought of…my parents well my dad knows now I only told my dad not
to long ago about all… my poverty issues and my mental health and
stuff…But my grandparents would’ve been…And I was I was mortified”.
The most important issue for me is respect. Our ability to respect
everyone no matter their income, views, and decisions is the only way
to start to change the situation around inequality, poverty and
homelessness.
Finding your voice in whatever social issue you are passionate about
and making sure the government and other citizens hear and listen to
that voice, is one of the first steps to finding the answers that we
are looking for here today.
Thanks
Adrian House
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicole Wilson" <nwi...@nl.rogers.com>
To: "St. John's Citizens for Affordable Housing" <st...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011 10:43 PM
Subject: Human Rights Day Event
Hello all,
Here is what I said tonight if you are interested.
When I was asked to be a part of this panel I was hesitant to say yes
for a couple of reasons. The first being that in the description it
states that we are going to discuss �ways to tackle inequality,
poverty and homelessness�. These are such complex issues that I have
been thinking about for the last 10 years, and I am not sure that I
have any concrete ways to tackle them. However, what I do have is
experience talking with people who have dealt with these issues and my
own personal life experience to lead me into a discussion about
possible ways to change the world around us. By being on this panel
today, I am not claiming to know the answer or how to tackle these
issues but to create discussions around what I have seen and how I
understand the situation.
The second reason I was hesitant is that St. John�s Citizens for
Affordable Housing is a very new group with only a few meetings under
our belt. We have not completely ironed out what the aims of the group
are and what our actions will be. This being said we all agree that
the housing situation in St. John�s is horrible and it will only get
worse if we do not act now.
I was suggest by the members of the group to talk with you here today
because I am completing research on Housing Issues and Homelessness in
St. John�s.
For this research I interviewed 15 people, 10 women and 5 men, about
their experiences with housing issues and homelessness in St. John�s.
The experiences of these 15 people range from living on the street and
in tents, to moving back with their parents because they could not
find or afford to keep an apartment.
So I come to you today as part of STCAH and as a researcher. But most
importantly, I come to you as just me, a concerned citizen, who is
passionate about her city and the people in it. I am here today as a
person who�s voice and thoughts are no more or less important than
your own and I am looking forward to your questions and our
discussions.
As I said we are a new group. Our first official meeting was on
National Housing Day (Nov 22) of this year. In this first meeting we
went around the room discussing the reasons why we thought a group
like this was needed. Most people explained that they struggled to
find and keep affordable housing here in St. John�s and that they are
fed up with seeing more and more condo buildings being built instead
of rental units.
One person said �Because I don't see how I will ever be able to
afford a house of my own in St. John's, especially as a farmer,
someone of low-income. Because rent and real estate costs are only
rising, and incomes are not. Because it was hard to find affordable
rent when my friends and I were looking this fall. Because, while I
can manage to pay my own rent currently for a room in a rooming house,
as a single individual, I don't see how I could pay rent in a house
big enough for a family. Because I don't know how I will support
myself as a senior on a pension, especially if I have accessibility
issues and have even more limited affordable options.�
Another member commented that, �when working full time doesn't mean
you can afford to live without fear, rent is too high.�
Over the past few meetings we have discussed what needs to be
addressed within St. John�s. Two of the issues that keeping coming up
are: what is meant by affordable and the need to establish rent
controls.
What does affordable mean? Who�s definition of affordable are we
using? We tend to throw around the word affordable as if everyone has
the same idea as what is affordable. For one family, affordable may be
a 200 thousand dollar home and another family may struggle to put food
on the table, let alone come up with the money for a down payment on a
house. To give you some numbers on this, I by no-means am a
mathematician so please correct me if I am wrong.
The typical down payment for a house is about 10% of the cost. So in
the case of a 200 thousand dollar house this would be 20 thousand
dollars. Now, if you wanted to pay the mortgage off in 25 years with a
4% interest rate, you would have monthly payments of $950. This does
not include the closing costs and property taxes, etc. In order for
these monthly payments to be 30% of your income, you would have to
have a disposable income (which is what the household takes home
after taxes) of at least 33 thousand dollars or 2 thousand 750 a
month. If we change the number of years that it takes to pay off your
mortgage to 35 years you could have lower monthly payments of 800 a
month, which would allow people with lower incomes to be able to
�afford� the same house. But the fact that it is taking people the
majority of their working lives to pay for their house is a big red
flag to me about affordability of housing.
These numbers clearly show that a person making minimum wage is no
where near making enough money to purchase their own house, with a
disposable income of about half of what it takes to afford a 200
thousand dollar house.
All of this being taken into account right now the average price of a
house in Newfoundland and Labrador is $249 thousand (CMHC).
How we define affordable changes who we are going to help by creating
affordable housing. If we are defining affordable as a 200 thousand
house we are knocking off the people who take home less than 33
thousand a year and telling them they do not deserve to own their
house.
Moving out of purchasing a house and into affordable rents I will talk
about renting apartments in St. John�s. What is an affordable rent in
St. John�s? For most people that I discuss these issues with the
current rental rates are not affordable to them. Right now the average
rental rate for a 2-bedroom apartment in St. John�s is $744 a month.
hotels, which St. John�s has already seen.
So now I would like to move into a discussion about the research I
have been working on.
Take a moment and think about the image that comes to mind when you
hear the word homeless?
For most people it is a dirty man, who is sleeping on the street or
under a bridge because he is an alcoholic or has some sort of drug
addiction. This particular image is not one that you see much of here
in St John�s, and is probably why the most common statement when I
tell people what I am research is �but we don�t have homeless people
here�.
So what does the lack of these visual cues mean in a city such as St.
John�s?
It means that if we go by the stereotypical idea and image of
homelessness, one is correct in saying that homelessness is not a big
problem here.
The St. John�s Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness states
that the problem, in St. John�s, is best understood �as one of hidden
homelessness, in which people are forced to live in unsafe, unsuitable
housing�. These places are often more than they can afford leading to
a cycle of unstable housing, including continuous threats of eviction
and couch-surfing from place to place.
It is this current idea and vision of homelessness and poverty that we
must change in order to make a difference in St. John�s and elsewhere.
If we can show that anyone can end up in these situations and it is
the majority of the people who are living in fear of not being able to
pay their bills, and loosing their houses, than we can create an
understanding of what poverty means and therefore doing away with
perceived inequalities. Getting rid of the stigma around poverty will
enable people to become more open about their issues without fear of
being looked down upon. This I think has been a huge value of the
Occupy movement. As they are clearly showing that those in poverty are
not just these stereotypical images.
All of the 15 people that I have interviewed discussed in one way or
another that being respected and not having this stigma attached to
being poor is a huge issue. Hillary stated that the fact that she had
to move back in with her parents at age 25 while having a university
degree and a full time above minimum wage job was degrading and
embarrassing to admit to new people.
When I asked Linda the question what would a group of women struggling
with housing issues talk about if they got together she replied �tell
you the honest truth
I would be very uncomfortable getting together with a group�like
[that]. I had to go to the food bank the other day and I was so
uncomfortable there because I felt I don�t belong here. I didn�t grow
up this way...I don�t want to be with these people. I don�t want to be
one of these people. I am but I don�t want to be�And I probably won�t
be good in a group of homeless people because I guess I feel like I am
better than them because I was raised that way. I was raised with no
thought of money if I asked for money I got money�You know I sailed
through life easy�For years and years�Its� hard.
The thought of�my parents well my dad knows now I only told my dad not
to long ago about all� my poverty issues and my mental health and
stuff�But my grandparents would�ve been�And I was I was mortified�.
The most important issue for me is respect. Our ability to respect
everyone no matter their income, views, and decisions is the only way
to start to change the situation around inequality, poverty and
homelessness.
Finding your voice in whatever social issue you are passionate about
and making sure the government and other citizens hear and listen to
that voice, is one of the first steps to finding the answers that we
are looking for here today.
Thanks
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