Theme SO 4: Poverty and Homelessness

Theme Statement

All citizens have a way to meet their basic needs. The community is working towards long-term solutions that break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.

Indicators

Low Income Households (Percent of households below the low income cut-off).
Housing Affordability (Households spending 30% or more of household income on gross rent, and on owner’s major payment).

Goals

Work with local partners to reduce poverty in Kingston households.²⁵,²⁶
Reduce reliance on food bank usage.
Increase public awareness of poverty.
Ensure a range of affordable housing choices with varying levels of care.
Support the inclusion of affordable housing in new developments.
Empower, engage, and leverage neighbourhoods as a strategy to reduce poverty.

Actions

Action	Action Lead	Target	Status
Alleviate Poverty Selling used bicycles for affordable prices or pay what you can.	Yellow Bike Action	Get bicycles into the hands of as many people as possible.	Ongoing
Homelessness: - Community Plan to address the issue of homelessness & affordable housing. - As the Community Entity, United Way distributes Homelessness Partnering Strategy funds (Federal) and monitors established priorities.	United Way Kingston, Frontenac Lennox and Addington	Community Plan identifies Housing First model; the need to maintain shelter beds and the need to integrate support services to offer seamless services to those who are homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.	Ongoing
‘STAND UP AND TAKE ACTION’ Rallies Organize local “STAND UP AND TAKE ACTION” events in support of this growing world alliance organized by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) together with the UN-Millennium Campaign.	Goal Patrol	To bring awareness to the international Global Call to Action Against Poverty movement.	Ongoing
Holiday Food Drives Organize holiday food drives.	Goal Patrol	To help make sure everyone has enough food for the holidays.	Annual
Homelessness Proposal Proposal developed to undertake a project to improve information and knowledge about homelessness in the Kingston area. The proposal focuses on the risks of homelessness for residents of our community who face high housing costs and other issues that put them at risk of losing their accommodation.	Social Planning Council Kingston & Area (SPC)	Better understanding of the numbers of people facing these problems and causes of these risks is expected to help improve responses to and prevent rising homelessness.	Ongoing
Roundtable on Poverty Hosted and overseen by the Social Planning Council, the Roundtable is a group of 24 members who include a cross-section of people who are committed to reducing the number of Kingston residents who live in poverty.	Social Planning Council Kingston & Area (SPC)	- Work with the local Kingston community plus all levels of government to encourage and support effective responses that will lead to a permanent reduction in poverty. - Identify poverty reduction targets and communicate these to fellow residents. - Keep the public informed about progress in meeting these targets and hold the community accountable for their roles in reducing poverty. - Increase public awareness of poverty — the causes, the issues and the people affected. - Develop and make available community resources related to poverty reduction.	Ongoing
Peer Support Initiative Assist in the convening of the Peer Support Initiative which is recognized as part of an overall endeavour to attack and overcome the causes of poverty and injustice.	Social Planning Council Kingston & Area (SPC)	Encourage community participation to enable low-income people to have more control over their own lives, and to raise awareness in the Kingston community about the basic causes of social injustice.	Ongoing

25 Poverty is defined as more than a third of income spent on basic needs.
26 Local initiatives include the Roundtable of Poverty Reduction and provincial initiatives such as “Breaking the Cycle”.