They say the real problem is the lack of affordable housing. The lack of social or subsidized housing is not new to the Ottawa area. There are about 24,000 units in the city, however the waiting list for subsidized housing has more than 15,000 names, according to the City of Ottawa Web site. The money, given out was divided among 44 groups dealing with support services, transitional and affordable housing and support to obtain and retain housing.
New housing is the thing that is needed more than anything else right now.
Realistically what we need is not more money for shelter beds and more mittens and coats. What we need is more funding for housing and that is going to take a lot more money than a city can come up with. We were pretty lucky this time. It's a step in the right direction, but we are getting a lot less than we used to get. She says this money doesn't cover the entire costs of the three projects which received funding.