Last week CCEDNet Manitoba provided the City of Winnipeg with their Budget 2018 submission. This submission reflects CCEDNet Manitoba’s over 100 members’ policy priorities.

The central recommendation is a call for a comprehensive Winnipeg poverty reduction strategy, with the following recommendations being well situated within such a strategy.

"Poverty is a critical issue that affects all of us. Some demographics are over-represented among those living in poverty and face many barriers to full social inclusion as a result. This includes women, LGBTQ2S communities, seniors, lone-parent families, Indigenous people, newcomers, and persons with disabilities. The over-representation of Indigenous people among those living in poverty is a lasting legacy of colonization. The City of Winnipeg can be a real leader in reconciliation by making the link between poverty reduction and reconciliation.

"The City of Winnipeg must join other jurisdictions who have taken a leadership role in poverty reduction through comprehensive poverty reduction strategies that address the multiple and inter-related causes of poverty and social exclusion. Many of these municipal strategies include targets and timelines to make government accountable, to create an incentive to follow through with actions, and to provide a basis from which progress can be measured."

Read CCEDNet Manitoba's Budget 2018 submission

Recommendations

Creating a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy

• Partner with community-based organizations and key stakeholders to create and implement a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy with targets and timelines.

Resourcing the Winnipeg Food Council

• Invest $69,000 for the coordination of the Winnipeg Food Council as recommended by the public service in its report “Towards a Winnipeg Food Policy Council.”

Supporting the development of social and affordable housing

• Continue to fund the Housing Rehabilitation and Investment Reserve or subsequent relevant budget reserve and develop a regular and transparent process for reviewing and adjusting its size to ensure it adequately meets housing needs in Winnipeg.
• Adopt inclusionary zoning to increase the number of affordable housing units in all housing developments.
• Establish a policy for all surplus land disposals that ensures non-profit and cooperative housing providers are prioritized for receiving surplus land for the purpose of creating affordable housing.
• Permit E&IPH housing projects to retain their “Residential” classification.
• Regulate the conversion of rental stock to condominiums when vacancy rates fall below 4%

Resourcing Neighbourhood Renewal Corporations to contribute to the implementation of OurWinnipeg

• Contribute core funding to Winnipeg’s Neighbourhood Renewal Corporations to help achieve the goals in OurWinnipeg.

Implementing a social purchasing policy

• Implement a procurement strategy that takes into account the added economic, social and environmental value of purchasing.
• This procurement strategy should target social enterprises that are creating jobs for people facing barriers to employment.

Implementing a Living Wage policy

• Partner with community stakeholders to develop and adopt a Living Wage Policy for municipal employees and contracted services.