On Declaring Bed Bugs a Heath Hazard
Councillor Howard Moscoe will ask the Toronto Board of Health to work with the Province to declare bed bugs a health hazard. The reason for the declaration is essentially to empower the City to have the authority to fumigate units that have infestations even if the tenant does not want it sprayed.
Bed bugs should be declared a health hazard and the City should do absolutely everything possible to rid Toronto Community Housing buildings of their infestations and work with the private landlords and property managers throughout Toronto’s rental community to fight infestations there as well. I have been fortunate in my short experience renting never to live in a unit with cockroaches or bed bugs. But that is because I’ve always made a point of asking prospective landlords before renting whether there were bug problems and what they did about it.
The impact bed bugs have on a tenant and their family’s ability to enjoy their home is immense. If you are unable to sleep because of the psychological impacts of bed bugs, that will effect your health and the quality of your life. No one should be afraid of their bed or made to keep their cereal in the fridge because behind that seal is the only way to keep bugs out. A city like ours should not have problems like this.
Tenants in our city, especially in low income buildings are powerless in ridding their units of infestations. You can wash your dishes right after eating, clean you bed sheets weekly, vacuum your furniture and mattresses until you’re blue in the face, if your neighbouring unit has a bug problem, you will too.
The City of Toronto needs to do more to help tenants in TCH rental units especially. On election day the building I was working in was so badly infested on two floors, you could see glue traps and dead cockroaches and other bugs beside the door frame to apartments. It was the first time, I’ve seen bugs in the hall of an infested building. Imagine what that does to your enjoyment of the building if you are literally walking past a bug graveyard on your way into your unit.
There is no excuse for the City not having an all out program to fight bug infestations in our community housing buildings. I am glad that Councillor Moscoe has brought the issue of bed bugs up, and hope he will use his position on the Executive Committee to get additional funding in the 2009 budget for a war on infestations in our public buildings. These residents are constantly forgotten by municipal politicians and it is simply wrong the way their issues are continually ignored.
Clean, well maintained, livable affordable housing units will make for safe, engaged and vibrant neighbourhoods in our city. It is time Council act to show residents of these communities that they understand the problems they face and are going to try to alleviate at least one of them before this term is up. Fighting Bed Bug infestations would be a good place to start.
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Poverty Slipping on the Provincial Agenda? – What?
This really bothers me. How can you make such a big, public deal about poverty reduction and then just sort of drift away from it?
If the McGuinty government backs away from poverty alleviation at this point in the game, it will demonstrate probably the single largest set back for poverty reduction since 1995. At least until now, Liberals have talked a good game. But when it was time for action to begin, or at least get close to beginning, suddenly we’re not so sure. I can already tell this post is going to make me unpopular with some of my friends. I say this as a Liberal, and as someone who understands the negative impact poverty has on a community and the hopelessness living in poverty causes people to feel.
I can appreciate that there is a downturn in the economy, and that presents challenges to the government by way of balancing the books. I generally do not support running deficits to cover operating costs, but when it comes to poverty alleviation, I don’t think it is as easy as saying ‘no can do’ and moving on.
“In government, we have to act responsibly in the same way that our families do. If finances get tight in our homes, families make adjustments, and they focus on their priorities,” - Dalton McGuinty
Sure, governments like families have to act responsibly. The difference is for people in poverty, things are so tight it is strangling them. And unlike government they do not have access to additional money, however dire the situation is. Someone in poverty cannot go and sell bonds, often times they are unable to access non-predatory credit and are in poverty because even while just focusing on their priorities they are unable to get by.
Forty-one percent of children in my part of Scarborough (Ward 43) live in poverty. One in five families lives more than 50% under the low income cut off – the poverty line. These people face impossible situations on a daily basis when it comes to providing simply the basics. I am sure most of the children who live in poverty throughout our province would forgive the Premier for mortaging their future, if he were to provide them with a fighting chance to succeed later in life.
It is also important to note that the solution to poverty does not need to be a grand public program. It can be a patchwork of a number of different things. I will leave out things like affordable housing, as admittedly building housing is expensive and my point here is to demonstrate some other ways the government can approach poverty reduction.
I personally believe that anyone who is able and willing to work should be able to find an income that will allow them to work their way out of poverty. So make a pact with Ontarians. If you can and will work full time, you’ll at be able to earn your way out of poverty.
The 2006 low income cut off was about $ 22 000. For someone to earn that before tax on an annual basis they would need an hourly income of $11. The Premier should continue to scheduled minimum wage increases until the minimum wage eclipses the poverty line, so that any Ontarian working full time can help themselves step out of poverty. If inflation stays around two percent and the government continued to increase the minimum wage by $ 0.75 a year, the minimum wage would meet or eclipse the poverty line in 2014 and then could simply be adjusted for inflation.
That’s only part of the problem, but would then allow for a greater focus on people who are on long term disability and let the government develop a better plan for child care and the other supports a single parent requires to re-enter the workforce.
I want to explain why I am angry that the Premier appears to be backing away, so it can be understood. So many people believed and hoped that finally the government was going to address poverty in Ontario. It showed a real turning of the page, but loose language around actually implementing anything before the government even releases it’s targets for poverty reduction demonstrates a cooling off, on something extremely important. What is worse, is people living in poverty have been given hope that things might actually get better, and now it appears they are in for more of the same.
Incidentally, when speaking to people who are living in poverty about political participation – being continually let down by government is the single largest reason cited. Maybe there is something to their point.
No Comments »Ward 43 Child Care Subsidy Update
I received a response to my questions from Children’s Services at the City on August 13 regarding the status of child care subsidies. The response was very thorough and seemed to be quick for what had been asked.
The City has in fact lowered the number of childcare subsidies Ward 43 children are entitled to. This is because child poverty has increased from an average of 29% to 32% across the City between 2001 and 2006. The increase across the City has caused a re-allocation of some of the childcare subsidy spaces.
The only good news is that children who currently have subsidies do not lose them, but as children come out of the system the spots are re-allocated to other areas within the City.
The childcare subsidy vacancies in Ward 43 are spots that are open and can be utilized by any resident in the City who has a subsidy. The idea is that parents should be able to find the most convenient childcare option for themselves whether or not it is in their community of residence.
Graphs made available within Toronto’s Report Card on Children indicate that child poverty has decreased in some areas of Ward 43; predominately in lower density areas, while increasing in high density, low rent areas. The increases in child poverty in Ward 43 have been as a result of intensification, meaning areas that already had rates of child poverty over the city average, have seen the increase. Intensification of child poverty has a huge social impact on children and our community as a whole. With increased intensification, we put additional strain on community schools and risk further isolation of communities most in need of additional resources and supports.
It was surprising to see that child poverty had increased within Toronto during the 2001-2006 period as the Daily Bread Food Bank had noted that child hunger between 2003 and 2008 fell from 27% to 13% (hunger is defined by not eating at least one day per week).
I would encourage you to take a look at fact sheet two from the Report Card on Children if you’re interested in having a more detailed understanding of some of the more surprising aspects of the growth of child poverty in our city.
With the fall fast approaching, it is my hope that the Provincial Government’s poverty reduction strategy will specifically address poverty intensification and the impact this intensification has on our city and particularly those who face poverty without adequate assistance from any level of government. I’d also like to see any level of government commit to ensuring at least children from families who live below the low income cut off have access to subsidized, licensed daycare.
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