Hovel Hunters International, Ep. 5: Food Banks a National Disgrace.

Right now Canstruction is going on at the mall, raising food and donations for the Inn of the Good Shepherd.

I'm opposed to food banks, which in my opinion are a national disgrace. Food banks are, or never should be, anything more than a temporary solution. Unfortunately, they have become a permanent blight in every Canadian city and town.

Here's what Miles Yappi and local radio aren't telling you about poverty in Canada, in Ontario, in your home town. In 1995, provincial welfare rates were slashed, from $663.00/month for a single adult down to $520.00/month for a single adult. Here's what a single adult receives in assistance now, 2017: $681.00 a month. That's twenty-two years later--twenty-two years of inflation that rarely runs much below three percent and sometimes a lot higher. Then there is the principle of compounding, something middle-class poverty enablers understand very well in their own savings or debt programs. "Each cut or each raise is compounded on top of the result upon which it is based."

The thing is, we're retarded children--mentally ill/addictions; none of us went past grade three and therefore we're not supposed to know that.

Unfortunately, we can do the math.

So, what's the average price of a one-bedroom apartment in this town? At a quick guess, about $681.00/month. But then, Landlordie McLandlordface can do the math just as well as you can—and he sees all them government cheques and fucking food banks too.

Local food banks also have rent and utility banks. They can help in an emergency. But I'll be damned if I'm going to rent an apartment that is way beyond my means, knowing that I can always go down there once a month, especially in winter, and throw myself on their mercy and their generosity in order to heat the fucking place. The same goes double for home ownership, no matter how smart it would be to build up a bit of equity for my alleged retirement.

You can’t get that assistance if the heat and power are included in your astronomical rent, can you? At some point they must ask, ‘why don’t just you get a cheaper place…???’

And the landlord, and the government, know all that too.

Maybe you could rent a place for less than that—and there are one-roomers available for as little as $95.00/week. There’s one right downtown on Brock St., handily enough, a stone’s throw from the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Have you ever wondered what that might look like?

Let alone live in it.

Thank you for reading.

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