Because everyone deserves a safe, affordable, hopeful place to call home, and when that’s the case our entire community benefits.
Housing is so important because it is one of the factors that contribute to the health and resilience of people, and collectively the health and resilience of a community.
This has always been the case, but through the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more evident than ever.
We need to be able to talk about the factors that contribute to health and resiliency in a way that makes sense to our decision-makers and neighbours, so they can more easily understand how we can best take care of each other.
Many of these factors are impacted by policy choices.
So how do we build a healthy, resilient community?
It’s a puzzle with many pieces. No one holds all the pieces…but through working together the puzzle can be solved.
Which pieces of the puzzle are you holding?
In the last 30 years, scientists have discovered that environment has a huge impact on brain development and function.
Stable, loving relationships, low stress, healthy food, and stable housing all lead to a better chance of lifelong physical and mental health and provide the building blocks of resilience.
At the same time, over the last 40 years our governments have made policy choices that have had negative impacts on this environment for many of our neighbours.
Less investments in affordable housing along with policies that allow for more precarious employment and for costs of living to far outpace wages, means more and more people are growing up in stressful, unhealthy environments that do not promote healthy brain development and resiliency.
As a result, increases in poverty, the advent of modern homelessness,
and the current mental health, addiction, and problematic drug use and resulting overdoses are straining our social, health, and justice systems.
Our food banks cannot keep up with demand, and waitlists for subsidized housing and mental health and addictions supports grow longer and longer. It is impacting our work force and costing us billions of dollars.
When our environment supports healthy brain development and function, our whole community benefits.
Through policies that tackle poverty, ensure stable housing and food security for all, and promote social inclusion, we can build healthy resilient communities.
YIMBY WEEK
May 27-31, 2024
Simcoe County is full of people who take care of each other. We are going to celebrate that.
Right click, Save image as.
Now, tell the whole world you’re in the club:
Swipe this YIMBY badge to add to your website, and link it back to this page if you like.
Are you a YIMBYer?
When you say ‘Yes in My Backyard’ (YIMBY), you:
- Support a welcoming community where everyone has a safe, affordable, hopeful place to call home,
- Encourage others to show their support for safe and affordable housing for ALL our neighbours,
- Help to build the community support necessary to give policymakers the courage to do the right thing.
I believe when everyone has a safe, affordable, hopeful place to call home, our whole community benefits.
Add my name to the YIMBY campaign, subscribe me to the YIMBY email list, and send me updates about how I can help.
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