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A Hamilton councillor’s recent experience witnessing a baby born in an encampment in the city demonstrates the “unacceptable” housing crisis residents face and “eye opening” situations paramedics and police officers are currently responding to, he says.
Coun. Matt Francis (Ward 5) told CBC Hamilton he was doing a ride along with police on a cold morning in late November when they were called to a medical emergency at an encampment tucked away in an industrial area in the east end.
They arrived at the same time as paramedics and “to our surprise,” he said, a woman had given birth in a tent and was holding the infant with the umbilical cord still attached. There was another person in the tent with her.
“I was one of the very first people to see this child born and I was shocked and saddened at the same time,” Francis said in an interview Monday.
Paramedics cut the umbilical cord and wrapped the baby in a blanket, while police helped the mother onto a stretcher. She and the baby were taken away in an ambulance, he said.
“My heart goes out to the mother and any other mothers in such a terrible situation,” said Francis, a father of two. “My heart goes out and breaks for the children too that are born into the world that way.”
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It’s only been a month since the season of singing “Away in a Manger”…
Hamilton had 11 350 vacants homes in 2016, and 1509 homeless people in December 2022. (545 according to this site.
There’s a disconnect there and the problem is capitalist rent-seeking. I say forget the Vacant Home Tax, mandate second/third/corporate home owners to find a tenant else they will be forced to allow squatters to shelter in the vacant homes. That will bring down rents and make home ownership accessible to people who want to live there instead of people who want to profit off of others.
What the absolute fuck?
Things working as desired. Housing market holding its value, preserving 65% of Hamiltonians’ wealth. You can substitute Hamiltonians with residents of most places across Canada since the homeownership proportions are similar.
I wonder how much wealth they’re really retaining. While I’m sure people with real estate is mostly doing better than those without, as long as they’re living in the area they’re getting hit with the high cost of living they help create.
In theory people should start realizing the economies don’t happen in vacuums and by keeping living costs up for others it means theirs will likely go up as well.
This intuition kinda works on average but even on average it may not apply fully. Yes you could trace cost increases to the real estate market but those might still not neutralize the upside for owners. Most real estate owners bought years or decades ago. Sure their property taxes and other costs are going up. However people’s properties who bought 10 years ago have more than doubled in price. From their point of view, things are not bad at all. The ones that don’t own are hit disproportionately. And many if not most are spatially isolated from the shantytowns, courtesy of urban sprawl. 😑
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A Hamilton councillor’s recent experience witnessing a baby born in an encampment in the city demonstrates the “unacceptable” housing crisis residents face and “eye opening” situations paramedics and police officers are currently responding to, he says.
Matt Francis (Ward 5) told CBC Hamilton he was doing a ride along with police on a cold morning in late November when they were called to a medical emergency at an encampment tucked away in an industrial area in the east end.
Francis spoke publicly about the experience for the first time at a council meeting on Monday — after the chief of police asked for a $20 million budget increase for 2024.
Francis has been a vocal opponent of encampments in public spaces, saying at a council meeting last year they’re “beyond inappropriate” and that he supports an “enforcement-first approach.”
“The investments in housing and homelessness are a significant driver of the 2024 budget and we know it’s also [among] the key council priorities,” Jason Thorne, general manager of planning and economic development, told councillors Tuesday.
Residents in his ward, east of the Redhill, can’t afford another major tax increase like last year, he said, adding people are struggling to pay their mortgages amid inflation and high interest rates.
The original article contains 709 words, the summary contains 205 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Removed by mod
Your anger & desperation is being leveraged by rich assholes into a weapon of hate so they can sleep on their piles of money.
Don’t be their tool.
I’m very impressed by the compassion of your response. It would have been so much easier to downvotes and move on, my first instinct.
