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Jack Layton's Homelessness

By Reuel S. Amdur

“Canada had a reputation around the world for its progressive
housing policies and programs. But that is no longer the case.”
In this book, Jack Layton quotes these words by Miloon Kothari,
special rapporteur on adequate housing for the United Nations
Human Rights Council. Layton and his collaborator Michael
Shapcott document this decline in detail.
Layton, commenting on Liberal government policy beginning
in 1993, says, “Martin led his government into the most rapid
dismantling of social infrastructure of any G7 country. In 1996,
the federal government nominated Canada’s co–op housing as a
‘global best practice,’ and the United Nations. . . proclaimed our
highly successful model of community and managed housing as
among the best in the world.” However, the Liberals decided to
download responsibility to the provinces and territories, leading
to a starvation of social housing initiatives.
The link between homelessness and poverty is clearly made.
A 1998 study of 300 Toronto homeless, by what was then the
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, found that the largest group, 45 per
cent, were homeless because of lack of adequate money to keep a
residence. Second place (27 per cent) went to conflict and
divorce. Yet, even poverty is not the full story. In Fort McMurray,
there are people with good jobs who are jammed into
overcrowded accommodations and living in trailer parks. Layton
could have mentioned people in Calgary working full time and
living in shelters because of a lack of affordable housing.
Not surprisingly, Layton gives full credit to the NDP for
efforts—sometimes with success—to improve the housing
picture. However, he does not reveal the warts. Take the
relationship between the housing crisis of the poor and welfare
policy. While the NDP election campaigns speak of health,
education, and jobs, they never mention social assistance, and in

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