Women have ways to go despite their great strides

(March 3) - There are 2,754 units of non-profit social housing in Wellington County. More than half are occupied by single-mother families. Next Sunday is International Women’s Day, a good time to reflect on the social issues that confront women. You should also think how governments, for all their fine words and platitudes, are doing next to nothing to address the issues that keep thousands of women and their children living in poverty.

Many feminists, female and male, like to point to the achievements won in the 98 years since Women’s Day was first proclaimed. There have been many. Glass ceilings have been smashed. Women have broken into the professions. Here in Guelph we readily elect women to high political offices. The chief executive officer of the largest employer in town is a woman. Progress has been made.

In spite of the great strides, there is still a lot of ground to be made up by all women.

Good affordable housing is part of the picture. Less than 3,000 houses spread over a population greater than two hundred thousand is not much. It barely dents the need. Social housing supported by Wellington County consists of four of the six housing co-ops in town, several non-profits, and about 1,200 units owned and operated by Guelph and Wellington Housing Corporation.

Nearly all the families in these homes are supported by rent-geared-to-income subsidies. The co-ops are a nice exception. They are mixed-income communities where some families pay full market rent and others receive subsidies. Even in co-ops, the majority of homes are led by single mothers.

Those who are fortunate enough to receive a subsidy pay around 30 per cent of their income on shelter. Thousands of others are not so lucky. Many who rent privately pay well over half their income for inadequate housing. Many others are stuck in abusive domestic situations from which they can’t afford to escape.

The recent federal budget promised $2 billion over two years for affordable housing investment. Half will go to badly needed repairs to run-down social housing projects. The other half will go towards housing for aboriginals, seniors and people with disabilities. This is also desperately needed. There is no money for new homes for low income families and nothing to help people stuck renting a slum from a private landlord. Almost all the budget money is tied to the negotiation of cost sharing agreements with the provinces.

The need for quality public housing has been ignored for too long. It will take a major commitment on the part of government to fix it. If they are serious about fighting poverty, they have to make that commitment now. They can find billions of dollars to bail out struggling corporations. They should be able to find billions more to bail out struggling families.

The United Nations adopted a theme for the 2009 Women’s Day. It is, once again, centred on ending violence against women and girls. Ten years ago the theme was much the same. Then it was about building a world free of violence against women. Why does it keep coming back? Why does the world dedicate itself over and over again to a goal it seems incapable of meeting?

The answer is not hard to find. Too many women are not given the tools and resources they need to make their own choices. A lot of very dedicated women work at Wellington County Housing Services. They do good work with limited resources. If it were up to them, there wouldn’t be any under-housed families. That there are is an insult to all of society.

Next Sunday, International Women’s Day comes around for the 98th time. Thank your favourite woman for the things she does and relieve her of the burdens she carries. Don’t just give her a hug. Give her a future.