Why just SURVIVE when you could THRIVE ?

Families who work for low wages face impossible choices, buy food or heat the house, pay the bills or pay the rent. The result can be spiralling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means that the adults in the family are working long hours, often more than one job just to pay for basic necessities. They have little time to spend with their family, much less to help their children with school work or participate in community activities.

 

“The most pressing issues we face as a society today is the chronic lack of affordable housing and stable employment opportunities that pay a living wage.” 

 

The reasons for this can be both complex and overwhelming, but affordable, simple and sustainable solutions do exist, that can effectively eradicate poverty and make housing and living a rewarding and productive life, affordable for all, no matter your age, individual economic or present circumstances.  Is anyone else puzzled why governments never seem to be able or willing to use common sense to address these pressing issues?  The real solutions will never come from the top, they will come from you and I.

 

"The frustration with low wages and working harder only to fall further behind is one many Canadians today can relate to, and one many Canadians will NEVER accept."

Our governments want us to believe that unemployment has hovered around 7% since the great recession started in 2008, but the real numbers are Much Higher. Canadian employers have not been creating nearly enough jobs to keep pace with our workforce and population growth. Especially jobs that pay a living wage. There are many discouraged job seekers no longer looking and many part-time workers who cannot get full-time jobs. Off shoring of our jobs along with rapid technology growth continues to replace or eliminate workers. Free trade and the debts being carried by Canadian families and our governments at all levels are all contributing factors to many unprecedented societal problems we all face today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 23, 2013: “The Bank of Canada says in a new forecast that the Canadian economy will be considerably weaker over the next few years!”

FACE IT, this is not likely to change!  It’s more likely to get worse!

As our political systems sputter, a wave of innovative thinking is quietly sweeping away outmoded economic models. Creative thinkers, just like you and I are coming together to explore exciting ideas and projects to take our livelihood and economy back. Just beneath the surface of traditional media attention, something vital has been gathering force and is about to explode into public consciousness, right here in Ontario. The “New Economy” is a far-ranging coming together of ordinary citizens, the unemployed, underemployed and frustrated low wage earners, that form their own organizations and projects committed to improving their lives and rebuilding the Canadian political-economic system from the ground up.  From new innovative companies, to affordable housing solutions that our governments are unable or unwilling to solve.

 

No society has ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of haves living off the have nots.

It seems more likely everyday that we may be on the verge of a new explosion of homelessness throughout Ontario, that if not addressed now, will be nearly impossible for governments to deal with.  Consistent high unemployment, low wages, household debt at an all time high and living wages in a constant steady decline, are all contributing factors. It’s affecting all of us both young and old, rich and poor. The Bank of Canada is well aware that any increase in interest rates could wreak havoc on ordinary middle and lower income Canadians.  Many would lose their homes!  To ignore the many Canadians today who are struggling, or to ignore the seriousness of the ongoing affordable housing crises and lower wages we are expected to accept, will only lead to other more serious problems society as a whole must deal with, such as increased crime, health care affordability, and over taxation.  Where does it all end?

 

Affordable housing as defined today by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is to spend no more than 30% of your income on housing. This includes utilities, insurance, repairs, taxes and so on.  For many and many more to come, there simply isn’t any housing solution in Canada that meets this need.  It's not uncommon that  people in Ontario on pensions and many working Ontarians earn $1200 or less per month!  Our governments seem unwilling or incapable of solving such complex social ills.  Of all the proposals and 160 Billion dollars spent annually by our governments to try and solve societies problems, it's still nowhere close to solving many of our everyday struggles!  A massive mix of patchwork, proposals, and often wasted tax dollars, of which few government remedies are truly effective.  The Honourable Senator, Hugh Segal knows all to well what is really needed.  A guaranteed annual income for all Canadians.  Instead of the 160 Billion patch work in existence today,  a guaranteed annual income for all Canadians would be less expensive and be much more effective in lifting our greatest resource, the people. 

  

Unfortunately, the unwillingness by our governments to truly solve this ongoing crises, will continue.  But, in "Smart Communities", we have come up with a innovative solution that ends this problem once and for all.

 

Think of all the young adults in our society entering the workforce on low wages and trying to establish their lives, many ridden with college or university debt.  Many who remain under their parents roof.  What real chance do they have of home ownership?  Or the millions of Canadians soon entering retirement with little or no savings whatsoever, wiped out by the ongoing recession.  What will they do to survive?  The social suffering and economic problems ahead of us all as a society, are just beginning. 

 

If I go back just a few years ago, before the financial crises, I was fortunate enough to have a luxury 35 foot long RV camper that I had set up full time in a private park in eastern Ontario.  I would go there on weekends and weeks off during the summer to relax.  The park was mostly occupied by those who had above living wage incomes, which was seldom a young person.  One thing I took particular notice of and became really concerned about was the older occupants that where retired, or very close to it, that sold off their homes in the city.  Not because they wanted to, but because of the ever increasing tax burden, utility costs, upkeep and so on.  On fixed incomes, or being forced into lower wages, owning a home for them became simply unsustainable.  In other words, low wages, and this ongoing recession is hurting more and more Canadians every day, and people must decide now, before it's to late, how they are going to secure their future.  These people where all what I considered to be normal hard working Canadian tax payers who have contributed for decades. What these people seemed forced to do, was live all summer in their RV and in the winter move into an apartment with their children or move their RV south during the winter, which was the only way they could sustain their life.  These seniors are not counted in the growing number of homeless in our society, but in a very real sense, they are also homeless!

 

I felt deeply saddened that they had to make such a choice, because I know the sense of security one can feel with home ownership.  All these elderly people are now, also part of the homeless and have fallen victim to the unaffordable housing crisis and the great recession ongoing in Canada.  Will you be next?

 

I began to realize that if done right, living in smaller spaces had many advantages.  My RV space of approximately 300 square feet, very well laid out, was more than I needed and extremely comfortable.  In many ways I preferred it to living in my city house.  It came with all the comforts you'd expect, like air conditioning, heating, kitchen, bathroom and so on.  So I began to think, what if these tiny summer homes or luxury recreational vehicles could be built to a higher standard, more like a traditional home and well insulated enough to be healthy, safe and comfortable all year long? Even during a typical Canadian January cold winter night.  My research into this discovered that indeed this is what smart people have started to do.  Build luxury tiny homes that are often above building codes, high tech and are easily affordable and sustainable on any income. They are also much more environmentally friendly and consume hardly any energy at all.  Most commonly known as the "Tiny House Movement", Smart Communities Ontario expands on this idea by creating extremely affordable, smart and safe tiny house communities in Ontario.

 

But most importantly, they change peoples lives forever, making everyday life enjoyable again, without ever having to worry about how you're going to pay your next bill. 

 

 

Why just SURVIVE when you could THRIVE ?

 

 

Here is how it works.

 

After years of studying all of the ins and outs of how to legally create smart tiny house communities in Ontario, I've started Smart Communities Ontario and this website as a road map, a way to organize small groups of people to come together all across Ontario, and to inform people that living a life of economic slavery "the way it is"  doesn't have to be your life anymore!  You will find almost all the information you will need right here on this website and through consultations with Smart Communities Ontario, to live your life with dignity, happiness, minimal stress, and more freedom to do the things you really want to be doing!  A life that is easily affordable no matter if you are on or heading towards a meagre Canada pension or simply struggle day by day with a job that isn't paying you enough to make ends meet.  

 

First off, ask yourself these questions:  How much space do you really need and utilize regularly in the apartment or house you live in right now?  How much of your current space is poorly designed or wasted, or under utilized, and harmful to your pocket book and the environment because you heat it, or cool it?  Housing in Canada has steadily increased in size over the last several decades even as family sizes have been decreasing.  This is not something that the people have asked for, it happened because of all the special interest groups like building associations, real estate organisations, insurance companies, the banks, that have all lobbied our governments to change the laws and line their pockets by taking out of yours!  It is even illegal today to build a house that is smaller, or right sized for you!

 

How important is freedom to you?