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Social Issues on
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Housing Affordability and Homelessness Response
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Owen Sound is experiencing a dual housing crisis that demands immediate municipal action. We're simultaneously losing existing affordable rental units through "renovictions" while failing to provide basic dignity to our unhoused residents downtown.
The renoviction trend sees landlords conducting major renovations specifically to justify rent increases that push longtime tenants out of their homes. This displacement disproportionately affects seniors, families, and workers on fixed incomes. City Council has significant tools at their disposal - including zoning controls, development permits, and planning approvals - to craft policies that protect existing affordable housing while encouraging new purpose-built rental developments.
Meanwhile, our response to visible homelessness has been inadequate and inhumane. When the mayor deflects responsibility by calling homelessness "a County issue," it ignores the reality that what happens within city boundaries affects all residents. Simple, compassionate interventions like providing portable washrooms downtown would offer basic human dignity at minimal cost, yet Council has declined such measures while approving expensive consulting fees for projects with narrow community benefit.
These interconnected housing issues require municipal leadership that prioritizes essential human needs over prestige projects and recognizes that housing stability benefits the entire community.
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Alice Brown
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Transportation Equity Crisis
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Owen Sound faces a critical transportation equity issue that directly impacts our most vulnerable residents. With half of all households living on less than $57,600 annually - the lowest median after-tax income among similar-sized municipalities - reliable public transit isn't a convenience, it's a lifeline.
Our current transit system fails to provide the frequency, coverage, and affordability that working families need to access employment, healthcare, and essential services. This creates a barrier to economic mobility that keeps residents trapped in cycles of poverty. When people can't reliably get to work or medical appointments due to inadequate transit, it affects not just individual families but our entire community's economic health.
City Council has the authority to address this through improved transit investment and service planning. A robust public transportation system would reduce financial strain on low-income households, support local businesses by increasing accessibility, and demonstrate that Owen Sound values all residents - not just those who can afford private vehicles. This is a solvable problem that requires political will and recognition that transit is essential infrastructure, not an optional service.
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William Woyce
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