Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Nick Charity reports on the observations of the UN’s envoy on poverty and human rights that callous and cruel austerian political choices have caused harm to millions of UK residents. – Tess Kalinowski reports on the reality that Doug Ford’s move to remove
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jonathan Watts reports on a new study showing how the world’s largest economies (including Canada) are falling far short of the Paris climate goals due mostly to the influence of the fossil fuel industry, while also noting that Canada ranks with China and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Rent Strikes Gaining Popularity
Last year a community in Toronto launched a rent strike and won! This initiative to ensure affordable housing (and not being verbally abused by landowners) worked for the involved residents; and similar actions are working in the USA too. Last week in California a ballot initiative for rent control failed,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jovanka Beckles writes that the housing crisis in California – like those elsewhere – needs to be addressed through public investment in social housing rather than giveaways to private developers. – Sharon Riley discusses Alberta’s gigantic problem with unfunded oil production liabilities.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Gary Younge discusses how regardless of the outcome of the U.S.’ midterm elections, democracy is on the defensive against a Republican attack on voting rights. Janet Reitman goes into detail about the consequences of the U.S.’ law enforcement system failing to do
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Rupert Neate reports on new research showing that the world’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by 20% in 2017 alone. – Pete Evans discusses the increasing debt facing most Canadians as ever more net wealth is diverted to the extremely privileged few. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – David Wallace-Wells writes that even “genocide” may be too gentle a word for the consequences of a climate breakdown. Josh Gabbatiss discusses the insanity of approving – and even subsidizing – fracking and other means of exacerbating the climate crisis. And the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Low Income Housing Doesn’t Negatively Impact High Income Housing
The graph above shows that the introduction of low income housing into a neighbourhood does not negatively impact the value of other homes. Real estate agents perpetuate a myth that social (or public) housing destroys local housing prices. Clearly this myth is based on no reality. If you’re a homeowner
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Oliver Milman reports on new indications that we’re far beyond any reasonable pace in trying to rein in climate change. – The Star’s editorial board discusses why lower-income Ontarians are right to feel like they’re under attack from Doug Ford’s government. And Noah
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jean Swanson writes about the success of Vancouver tenants in pushing to limit the rent increases which can be forced on them. But any win for collective action will come attempts to stifle more of the same – and Dan Taekema reports on
Continue readingThings Are Good: In Singapore Housing Crises are a Thing of the Past
Singapore lacks land and this causes interesting land use problems. In the city state they ran into issues around housing their citizens ranging from land to cost. Instead of letting “market forces” dictate their housing plan (like in Toronto) the politicians of Singapore decided to act. They built housing and
Continue readingScripturient: Ten points on affordable housing
I was invited, along with the other candidates for this municipal election, to address residents at Rupert’s Landing this week. Each candidate was provided a list of ten questions and given three minutes to respond to one of them. I will comment on the other nine in a future post,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Stephen McBride offers some important lessons on austerity from government responses to the 2008 economic crisis. – Zoe Drewett reports on the rising level of poverty in the UK. Andrew Jackson points out how the Libs’ measuring stick for poverty seems aimed at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Matt Phillips and Karl Russell write that the next severe financial meltdown may not be far away, and that student and consumer debt (along with new derivatives from corporate debt) look to be at the centre of it. And Stephen Long points
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman discusses how Republican obstruction undermined both the shape and size of the U.S.’ efforts to recover from the 2008 economic crisis. And Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick and Ulrike Steins document how the crisis ant its aftermath exacerbated the U.S.’ already-alarming level
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Michael Harris laments the lack of any consistent connection between reporting on severe weather events and the climate change which is producing them in unprecedented numbers: Mainstream news coverage does well with reporting episodes, but misses the boat on thematic coverage. CNN is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Paul Krugman offers a reminder that the great global policy failure following the 2008 finance-driven crisis was to bail out bankers alone, while leaving people to fend for themselves in the face of subsequent austerity. And Wayne Swan highlights how the continued
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – David Roberts highlights the trillions of dollars in global benefits to transitioning to sustainable energy over the next decade-plus – as well as the political choices keeping us from achieving them. Orville Schell and David Hochschild note that California and China are putting
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Andrew Jackson comments on the need for a national anti-poverty strategy which can actually meet its intended purpose: [The new Poverty Reduction Strategy] responds to progressives and anti poverty activists who have long called for a federal government led, broadly based initiative
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: When tenants ‘graduate’ from Housing First programs
Over at the Research Blog of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a ‘top 10’ overview of a study on which I’m co-author. It essentially asks the question: “When homeless people are placed into subsidized housing with social work support, for how many months/years do they require that social work
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