Winnipeg sponsors more refugees than any other community in Canada. And according to recent research, African refugees are the newest and fastest growing groups of refugees. There are more than 30,000 Africans living in Manitoba at the moment.
While many refugees who come here are willing to get on with their lives, the problem of housing pose a serious hindrance to their settlement and integration.
According to a recent study by Professor Tom Carter, University of Winnipeg, 91 per cent of refugees live below the poverty line in their first year and most have to live in transitional housing and social housing but they work hard to climb out of poverty and by the time they are three years in the province the number drops to 53 percent who still live below the poverty line.
The bottom line is there is a serious shortage of affordable housing and this needs to be fixed.
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