Social Issues Impeding Community Growth

What are Social Issues?

Social Issues are issues or processes, administrative procedures that directly impact residents quality of life that can be addressed by Council if there is a willingness to amoung councillors to improve life for Owen Sound residences..

Some examples of social issues are:

1. Inadaquate Public Transportation:  Owen Sound has the lowest median, after-tax household income for municipalities its size. Half of households have less that $57,600 to live on. Most in this income category rely on public transportation to get to work and to go shopping. Publich Transportation needs to be frequent and cost-effective to meet their needs.

2. Affordable Housing: Council can do much more to encourage the development of affordable housing given that it controls development permits. We are currently losing affordable apartment units to landlords who choose to do major renovations resulting in rents becomeing unaffordable. Council needs to development a strategy to address this problem

3. Addressing the unhoused in the Community: The mayor consistently responds to questions about the unhoused or drug use in the downtown core with a: "not-my-problem" attitude. He says that the unhoused are the county's problem and that he can't do anything about open drug use because prosecutors refuse to prosecute. However many, including myself, believe that everything that happens within city boundaries is a city problem and should not be totally uploaded to the county.  For example, a few portable washrooms strategically located downtown would provide the unhoused with some dignity. Telling them to use the washrooms at the police station is just not a viable solution for some.