News Report

Activists push to put poverty on agenda

GUTS members gather at city tavern to celebrate Anti-Poverty Day of Action

THANA DHARMARAJAH
GUELPH MERCURY

GUELPH (Oct 23, 2006) Poverty advocates rallied at a downtown bar to send a loud message to incoming city councillors to wake up to the poverty in their wards. “Trim the Fat off the Pigs, not the People,” read a banner that greeted motorists at the bridge near the Church of Our Lady as they drove up Gordon Street.

“We want a council that is accountable to all residents of Guelph and that doesn’t ignore that poverty is a huge problem in Guelph,” said 25-year-old Melanie Wilson, a member of the Guelph Union of Tenants and Supporters (GUTS). She gathered with at least 30 other GUTS supporters at the Albion Hotel yesterday afternoon on an Anti-Poverty Day of Action called by the Anti-Poverty Committee of Vancouver. Those in Vancouver are demanding the conversion of empty buildings to social housing and protesting the displacement of low-income families through the gentrification of poor neighbourhoods.

In Guelph, people gathered to hear from GUTS as well as speakers from the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca, Mexico, about poverty issues. Wilson said in the last five years she’s lived in Guelph, council has made decisions that neglect those living in poverty.

“Council doesn’t seem to be taking any action,” Wilson said. “Instead it seems the city is subsidizing rich suburban developers.”

Guelph has some of the lowest development charges in southern Ontario, Wilson said, which leaves a funding gap. “We’re not getting the tax revenue to support social programs,” she said.

In Guelph, there are at least 2,800 people on a waiting list for social housing, according to the Guelph and Wellington Housing Committee.

GUTS member Andrea Bennett said every month there are 83 new people added to the wait list, while only 17 move out of social housing. “It represents a widening gap that we need to be addressing,” she said. Social programs need to be supported before this year’s police budget is increased, Bennett said. Police are asking for an increase of $800,000, which includes funds to hire an additional downtown beat officer, Wilson added, noting that it doesn’t help address the issue of homelessness. “You need to address ‘Why there is poverty?’ instead of trying to calm fears that are based on prejudice,” she said.