Housing First – a model that supports the resolution of poverty related issues by starting with having the stability of a home.
It’s no secret that poverty-related crime is on the rise. Just last week (September 13) my car in East City was riffled through overnight. A minor inconvenience to me, but maybe life saving to someone with nothing.
As of April, there have been 14 suspected opioid related deaths in Peterborough in 2022. Mental health crises, addictions related deaths, homelessness, joblessness, are all intersecting issues of poverty. And with inflation on the rise it’s only going to get worse.
I have worked personally and professionally against poverty:
- by volunteering with Food Not Bombs to deliver free vegan meals to anyone who orders
- by closing my financial services business to work at One Roof Community Centre
- by helping found Peterborough Paramedics and Beyond and sitting as Treasurer then President; a charity that sends doctors and paramedics to impoverished nation
- by opening my home to vulnerable people, and giving tangible, compassionate, economic relief and stability of home
I don’t need an office. For all I care, someone can sleep there.
As your City Counsellor I will:
- Immediately table a motion to repeal the bylaws that criminalize camping on municipal property and will further work to make all municipal properties available to our most vulnerable while shelter space and housing is made available.
- Vote to continue, expand, and enshrine the funding of shelters and poverty-related social supports in Peterborough
- Vote to cancel expensive capital projects as necessary to fund these essential social programs