Poverty knows no boundaries. It exists in neighbourhoods across HRM – rural, suburban and urban. Sometimes we can see it and think we understand it, but often it’s hidden and cloaked in myths and misconceptions. Poverty can be defined in costs that are economic, but the real cost is human. Poverty robs individuals and our community of the opportunity to live a life of dignity and reach our full potential.

United Way Halifax is committed to tackling poverty in all its forms and building a strong, healthy community for everyone. It is with the extraordinary generosity of our donors that we have been able to inject more than $20 million from our community fund into local social agencies over the past 10 years. And that does not include the $15 million donors have directed to charities of their choosing through United Way.

During this time, allocations from United Way Halifax’s community fund have supported hundreds of agencies and benefitted thousands of lives. Donor dollars have served as seed funding for grassroots organizations to serve people needing safe and supportive housing, family support, and places for residents to connect and participate in neighbourhood-based programs, to name just a few. Donations and gifts have provided stable funding sources so front-line support workers can focus on what they to do best – serving people most in need.

The value of funding from United Way Halifax’s community fund is the network of services our generous donors enable across HRM each year.

This year, though, we face a challenge and allocations from our community fund will be particularly stretched. While we will be making significant investments in our community, we have to make tough choices. These choices are necessary and were made carefully based on a rigorous review process aimed at making the strongest impact for people experiencing the greatest marginalization in our community.

Next week, we will be telling some organizations delivering vital services in our community that they will not be funded this year, or that their funding will be reduced. This pains us, because we know it means the loss of programs or reduction of services for our partners. For the whole community, it means the network of services across HRM will weaken.

The unfortunate reality facing charities, particularly those working in the social sector, is that donations are not keeping pace with increasing demands. For United Way, this means finding ways to work smarter for the community to both respond to the changing philanthropic landscape and ensure we continue to target the root causes of poverty. For decades, United Way Halifax has brought people, organizations, governments, funders and not-for-profit partners together to create a more promising future for the most vulnerable people living in our community.

Ending poverty, however, requires more than fundraising. Many of our social challenges are perpetuated by systemic barriers. Breaking through some of these barriers requires government action, which we’re pleased to see is starting to happen federally, provincially and municipally. Other barriers, however, are subtler and therefore more difficult to tackle. These barriers require us to reflect as a community on our values and strengthen our sense of compassion and purpose for how we become good citizens, good neighbours and good stewards for the place we love so that we safeguard it for generations to come.

When positive social change is done well, it is good for all of us. Communities that know each other, that are connected and have lower levels of income inequality have the highest GDP growth, lower crime rates, better health and better employment. This is not a new idea but it’s one that works and requires us to be bold and steadfast as champions for change.

As we look forward to the next 10 years, we will continue to work hard to strengthen the network of services so the most vulnerable among us receive the support they need. We will embrace the opportunity to work with donors and community partners to create solutions in areas where we have shared interest, values and goals. And we’re committed to being strong advocates doing all we can to make local issues of poverty, housing, and social isolation unignorable so many others will join us in being champions for community change.

Everyone should have a place they call home. It is the foundation to individual health and wellness and it contributes to health and wellness of our communities. But not everyone can access safe, affordable housing in our city. For some, access to affordable housing is a struggle because of low wages and a lack of income. For others it’s the fact that “affordable” housing units are often in disrepair or located in neighbourhoods that lack employment opportunities, affordable and accessible transportation, and access to goods and services. 

Understandably, homelessness and affordable and accessible housing was one of the most prevalent themes that emerged from the consultations United Way Halifax hosted one year ago for the poverty solutions report.

Housing poverty is measured by the percentage of income that is spent on housing costs. In Halifax, 19,565 households live in extreme housing poverty which means they are spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing and are at a higher risk of being homeless. 40,000 households are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing which results in many making difficult choices between shelter, food, and other necessities like transportation.

“By the time I have paid rent, I have little left for frivolities like food and toiletries. I do not LIVE, I EXIST.” 

HRM Resident    

To mark National Housing Day this November 22, below are five highlights of work underway to open doors to new housing solutions. 

1) National Housing Strategy: United Ways across the country joined the effort to contribute to the development of the federal strategy by helping to convene the National Housing Collaborative. This collaborative was instrumental in informing the National Housing Strategy - a $40 billion decade-long comprehensive strategy. Importantly, this strategy prioritizes those in greatest need with a focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing and to support the renewal and maintenance of existing housing. It sets in motion the creation of a new Canada Housing Benefit, and doubles investments aimed at ultimately cutting chronic homelessness in half. It also takes significant action to build the capacity of the housing sector to deliver on the 10-year vision, as well as to re-build our research and expertise in this area.

2) Homelessness and Housing First: The federal government’s new strategy on homelessness, Reaching Home, doubles resources to support communities in working towards an ambitious goal of reducing homelessness by 50% over the next 10 years. It also builds on learnings over the last decade, embracing a Housing First model that incorporates wrap-around supports. A pilot program which helps shelter users collect comprehensive data and develop lists of homeless people, including their names and circumstances, and to streamline access to housing and support services is being expanded to 30 new communities including Halifax. In addition, private sector developers in Halifax recently came together to fund an extreme weather support program which will provide critical support services to help homeless people get in from the cold during the winter months. This development is an excellent demonstration of what our community can achieve when we stand together in generosity to help further address homelessness issues in Halifax.

3) HRM Centre Plan: While most would agree HRM needs more affordable housing units, the Centre Plan incorporates a number of elements that will help define a path to positively impact our city’s most vulnerable citizens. These include: barrier-free building and streetscape design, pedestrians first approach, a commitment to cultural planning and supportive housing and shared forms of housing options.

4) Data and Research: A point in time count conducted in Spring of 2018 is helping to highlight critical insights into homelessness. Learn more by viewing Everyone Counts - Report on the 2018 Halifax Point in Time Count available from the AHANS website.

5) Housing and Human Rights: And an emerging new focus on housing as a human right raises the bar on our discussion about core social needs as essential to the kind of Canada we want to build, and our values of fairness, inclusion and mutual care. This was a point powerfully shared by Vince Calderhead at the Housing Symposium this week in Halifax.

There is a significant amount of work being done in Halifax to address the issue of homelessness. United Way Halifax along with the other partners in the Housing and Homelessness Partnership are committed to changing these conditions. Together with the community and all levels of government, we are working to end homelessness and housing poverty in Halifax.

Poverty. Hunger. Homelessness. Domestic violence. Social isolation. Mental health. Unemployment. These issues are affecting the lives of millions of Canadians. These issues are preventing our communities from prospering. These issues can be easy to ignore.

The Making of #Unignorable