Since Horizon Ottawa’s establishment in 2020, we have consistently advocated for affordable, permanent housing. We have led several campaigns on this issue, including a successful one last year, which pushed City Council to double its affordable housing budget to $30 million.
We believe in creating compassionate and inclusive cities, which means ensuring that those who seek refuge from difficult circumstances, or who are navigating displacement, are able to access safe, dignified and stable housing. Due to a lack of available social housing in Ottawa, community recreation centres are currently being used as emergency shelters for asylum seekers. This is not sustainable, as these facilities are meant to serve other needs in the community.
The proposals to use sprung structures to house asylum seekers and refugees are intended to meet an urgent need in a practical and dignified way, while other levels of government work toward creating the permanent, not-for-profit housing that our communities, including newcomers, deserve.
There has been a great deal of opposition to these structures. We have been disturbed by fear mongering about the installation of these structures to stir up anti-refugee sentiment. We have heard concerns about “safety”, and claims of “not knowing” who will be living in the structures. We have seen pamphlets that, without any evidence, equate the presence of newcomers with higher crime rates. There is a racist and dehumanizing undertone when the first reaction to folks seeking asylum and refuge is that they are somehow a threat to a community’s “harmony and peace”. We are troubled by seeing that these narratives are being encouraged by elected political figures like Nepean MPP, Lisa MacLeod.
We reject scapegoating narratives about refugees. Our city does not have enough social housing because governments, particularly the provincial government, have not adequately funded and planned for the needs of our communities. Sprung structures are an imperfect and temporary solution to this failure.
We also reject the positions of City Councillors like Wilson Lo and David Hill, who argue that we need permanent housing instead of sprung structures. Permanent housing is crucial, but it is a long term measure and as winter approaches, we need immediate solutions. These Councillors do not have a solution for the urgent need that exists right now as the temperatures continue to drop.
Our city needs permanent housing. Our communities need resources. These problems are not created by people seeking refuge, and they will not be solved by keeping people out in the cold.
Horizon Ottawa Board of Directors
