Hamilton councillors to debate $50M poverty reduction plan

A plan to spend $50 million over 10 years to fight poverty in Hamilton goes before city politicians on Wednesday.

The project, to be paid for using money drawn from the Future Fund and hydro dividend, was first pitched by the mayor last spring and received support in principle at the time from members of council.

The now detailed plan suggests investing in a variety of ways, such as $10 million to repair unusable social housing units, $10 million for “indigenous-led” strategies and funding of shelter diversion programs and homelessness prevention initiatives.

The strategy comes forward at a time when Hamilton’s wait list for affordable housing, sits at almost 6,000 families or individuals.

As laid out in the report, the $50 million would be spent as follows:

• $10 million to repair up to 200 unusable social housing units.
• $10 million on “portable housing” allowances for families.
• $5 million to keep families in their homes and “rapidly re-house” those who lose housing.
• $5 million for shelter diversion strategies.
• $10 million for “indigenous-led” strategies to fight poverty and homelessness.
• $7.5 million in “wraparound” help for single parents (everything from employment to child health and recreation programs.
• $2.5 million for nurse-family partnerships.