'unsavoury characters'? well, let's include my sister in that lot - she was in a terrible car accident that caused a severe pain condition years ago. If it were not for publicly-funded housing (and universal healthcare), she would have ended up on the street and likely or maybe even dead by now. Because we live in a society where there is universal access to healthcare and some publicly funded housing, she is alive, thriving and managing a bank. By the way, I have met no less than a dozen families/singles through her that are refugees from other countries - they are warm and loving people who faced severe persecution for myriad reasons - religious beliefs, their gender, their sexual orientation, or because they simply 'spoke out against forms of human oppression'. Canada gave them a home and a life - all of the ones I met work (often in jobs way below their skill level and for crap wages), pay taxes, and richly contribute to this society.
Mr. Moderators, you have an ethical and moral responsibility to root out this kind of discrimination on this board - this kind of commentary against refugees is nothing short of racism.....moreover, the rants against those on assistance, is nothing more than discrimination against the poor. Regent Park is a culturally rich community filled with human beings with varied life stories and histories. First and foremost, they are human beings Peepers.
I hope to hell you never lose your health and your job and have to rely on social assistance - 517.00/month.... yeah, real freeloading, I would argue!
Those of you who are jumping all over me for my post need to go back and
carefully re-read
everything that I said because I think your comprehension skills are lacking.
I did
NOT say that
everyone in Regent Park or in TCHC housing was a free-loader.
I did
NOT say that
everyone in Regent Park was unsavory.
I am well aware that TCHC serves an important purpose for
Torontonians who find themselves suddenly down on their luck or are disabled or elderly. There are MANY such
Torontonians who are deserving of such accommodation.
Many of these deserving people (including friends of mine) are on a 7 year waiting list and will probably never get into affordable TCHC housing. A big reason, I believe, is that refugees are taking up many of the available spots. Go ahead, call me a "racist" and a "bigot" if you like, I don't care, but I DO think we have an obligation to look after the needy people of Toronto
FIRST. I don't believe that Toronto has an obligation to shelter refugees that arrive by the 10,000's each year in Toronto. Charity begins at home!
This is the
big elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about.
The city cannot build enough affordable housing for the 1,000s of refugees who arrive in Toronto each year. How are they going to find accommodations for the 50,000 Torontonians on the waiting list?
I also believe that Toronto residents should have priority for TCHC housing over people arriving from other parts of Canada. We should take care of Torontonians FIRST! How can anyone argue against that?
As to my "controversial" statement that "
some (TCHC units are) currently occupied by free-loaders" how can anyone take issue with this statement? It has always been the case that a certain percentage of people in public housing are scamming the system. A certain percentage work under-the-table while collecting welfare and living in rent-geared-to-income homes. Nothing new about this. This has been going on as long as there has been subsidized housing and yet when I acknowledge this fact I am somehow this big bigot who should be banned?
