High Housing Prices Swell Ranks Of Homeless

The federal government cancelled its national social housing programme in the early nineties in an era of deficit cutting. Even with annual surpluses restored, senior levels of government have not responded to the calls for action by the large urban centres in Canada where the strains of homelessness are exacerbated. Though there are no verifiable figures of how many homeless people are in Canada, the number is likely to be in the 200,000 range. Approximately 65,000 of the homeless are between the ages of 16-25. In fact, the federal government does not do an official homelessness count in the country, nor are provincial governments obligated to do one. Civil society advocates are also arguing that Canada is leading the charge in trying to stop international institutions from adopting complaint procedures for optional protocols which set human rights obligations on housing. ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41169

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