There is an excellent Tent City going-on In Kingston at this moment at Block D (Gore and Ontario) in Kingston, Ontario. This is why it has happened and the lead-up to its existence.

Greetings from Kingston Coalition against Poverty, a newly formed anti-poverty organization that fights for the rights of poor people using direct action tactics. We bring homeless people, low-income tenants and their supporters together to defend one another and organize to fight back against the powers that attack the poor. We are critical of symbolic gestures and protests, or negotiating without action. Specifically, we focus on securing affordable housing for all, and raising welfare and disability rates.

As you well know, there is a crisis of affordable housing in our city, with homelessness growing at alarming rates and many tenants experiencing housing insecurity. While a 3% vacancy rate is generally considered a minimum indicator of a healthy rental market, Kingston’s rate is 1.9%. At the same time, the average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is $627 – way out of reach for Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program recipients whose monthly shelter allowances range from $325 to $414. In spite of this, neither the province nor the City is taking action. We demand, at the very least, that the City donate one of its many unused properties, and pay potential tenants to make it habitable.

On January 19th of this year, Kingston MPP John Gerretsen met with a group of homeless people and tenants, promising to use their suggestions for making social policy reform. Since then, we have heard nothing from him or seen any real action from his government. Though Premier McGuinty’s spring budget increased assistance rates by 3%, the difference to recipients is negligible and in fact insulting. No one should have to choose between paying the rent or feeding themselves. We demand a 40% increase in OW and ODSP.

Similarly, the City’s silence on these issues is deafening. Way back in January of this year, Mayor Harvey Rosen named addressing the affordable housing crisis is number one priority. However, since that announcement, His Worship has shown little interest in consulting with those most in need of homes, refusing our attempts to meet with him and failing to attend several community forums aimed at addressing homelessness and housing insecurity. Adding insult to injury, our mayor spends much of his time championing the Large Venue Entertainment Centre, a project that will cost $25-30 million of taxpayer’s money. At the same time, though Gerretsen’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has approved funding for 105 units of affordable housing, our local government has no immediate plans to build these units. With 933 households on a waiting list for Rent-Geared-to-Income housing, and dozens of people struggling to survive on the streets, this callous disregard for people’s lives is disgusting. We demand action on the promised 105 units, construction of more units, and regular consultation in developing a housing strategy.

KCAP is taking up a fight to win back all that has been taken from those on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program since 1995 when Harris came to power. No one should have to choose between eating properly and paying the rent. The Liberals never said they would reverse the Tory 21.6% of welfare but they did campaign for election with a promise of a cost of living increase for people on assistance. Adding to the many promises broken by the Liberal Party, the 3% welfare increase does not keep up with the of the cost of living. We demand a 40% increase in OW and ODSP. We demand that Kingston Member of Provincial Parliament, John Gerretsen work with us to make these reforms.

We also find objectionable the fact that homeless welfare recipients lose their shelter allowances, receiving only $195 per month - more than a 60% cut. This can only lead to chronic homelessness. How is someone with a monthly income of $195 supposed to secure accommodation? Instead, a person who becomes homeless should continue to receive the shelter allowance for 4 months, allowing a local social agency to bank this money and use it to pay for first and last month’s rent. We demand that homeless people continue to receive the shelter allowance for their first 4 months on the street.

The City of Kingston too must be held accountable for its maltreatment of the poor. While welfare legislation is generally under the province’s jurisdiction, our Department of Community Services administers the Personal Needs Allowance portion of welfare. It is their cruel policy that denies homeless people staying in shelters the $195 - the only money those without homes are eligible to receive. It is because of their heartlessness that homeless people “choose