Following news stories after a study in the Canadian Medical Association
Journal reported the high death rate for younger homeless women, there's a
reaction from provincial Minister of Health George Smitherman. As the
articles in the papers indicate, the problem may not be only the realm of
the health minister - it also requires attention from Housing, and work with
the federal government.
See the full article in the CMAJ on "Risk of death among homeless women" by
Angela Cheung and Stephen Hwang at
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/8/1243 They found: Homeless women
18-44 years of age were 10 times more likely to die than women in the
general population of Toronto.
Check out the series of excellent articles by Elaine Carey, medical reporter
at the Toronto Star (link below to the most recent, and portions copied in)
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1081894211201
Apr. 14, 2004
Homeless death toll gets province's attention
Women die at 10 times normal rate
Minister pledges to address issue
ELAINE CAREY
MEDICAL REPORTER
Health Minister George Smitherman says he's troubled by a new report that
found younger homeless women in Toronto are dying at 10 times the rate of
other women their age.
"I was concerned by what I read in the report and I'm anxious to get a look
at it and to see what we can try to do to address it," Smitherman said
outside the Legislature.
"Of course we know that homeless people are suffering, typically, from
chronic health challenges. But those statistics look pretty startling, so
we'll be tackling it, and this will be one of those initiatives where we
seek to have the support of other ministerial colleagues as well," he said.
Michael Shapcott, research co-ordinator for the Toronto Disaster Relief
Committee, said the report is "unfortunately tragic confirmation of what the
homeless and people who work with the homeless have said for many years -
homelessness kills people."
The report, by Dr. Stephen Hwang of St. Michael's Hospital and Dr. Angela
Cheung of the University Health Network, said HIV-AIDS and drug overdoses
are the leading causes of death among homeless women aged 18 to 44, followed
by depression leading to suicide.
An earlier study by Hwang found homeless men in Toronto are eight times more
likely to die than other men.
[snip]
York University professor Toba Bryant said the study's results have been
predicted since Ottawa and Queen's Park stopped building affordable housing
in the 1990s.
The provincial Conservative government under former premier Mike Harris also
cut welfare benefits by 21 per cent in 1995.
Later, it scrapped rent controls.
"Changes in housing policy have a significant impact on vulnerable people,"
said Bryant, of York's Centre for Health. "The combined impact was
considerable, especially for women, who are more vulnerable and have fewer
supports. "We've already seen lots of people die on the street, and we
shouldn't be surprised."
[snip]
In 2001, the federal government announced it would make $680 million
available over five years for an affordable housing program, reversing a
decade-old decision to withdraw from these initiatives.
Under the new federal program, a total of $245 million was allocated to
Ontario, but the program required the provincial government to match those
funds.
But to date, Ontario has limited its contribution to a $20 million sales tax
rebate program, according to the report card.
With files from Caroline Mallan
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