‘Hard pill to swallow’: Seniors respond to rent increases at southwest Calgary retirement home

Local seniors facing a 55 per cent hike in their rent at a southwest Calgary retirement home will now see that increase cut in half, but some say that’s still too high of a price to pay while living on a fixed income.

In late September, 57 people living at Silvera’s Westview Residence West in Glamorgan were notified of a rent increase scheduled to kick in on Jan. 1, 2024.

Their rent was expected to increase from $1,000 to $1,360 per month and it also came with a mandatory $195 fee to pay for amenities such as shuttle services, access to a guest suite for family fitness classes and a half-dozen meals per month.

On Wednesday Silvera announced that it heard the concerns of its residents and would make rental adjustments. It said that the mandatory monthly fees would be removed for the next year, making the difficult decision to cut the services entirely.

An originally planned rent increase of 55 per cent would also now be adjusted to a 23 per cent uptick instead starting March 1, 2024.

Sheila Leier moved in last year and will see her monthly rent now increase from $1,275 to $1,568. She appreciates the adjustment but said it’s still too expensive.

“I might have to move now somewhere else. I put my name in for about 25 places around the city for independent seniors but they’re all full. Something has to be done because it’s not only happening to us, it’s a huge impact on seniors but it’s happening all over the city with people unable to afford rent.”

Alberta’s Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, Jason Nixon responded to concerns Thursday over the rent increase Calgary seniors are facing.

“The alternative is what some others have called for through things like rent control, which would be devastating for the rent market and we make tens of thousands of people homeless, and we’re not addressing the situation there, we have to increase the supply of housing.”

(Steve’s note The UCP doesn’t want to limit the profits for energy companies, insurance costs or contractors. This tells you who the UCP were elected to serve)

A University of Calgary professor agrees it would make housing more scarce.

“It really means that developers kind of pull back and say, ‘You know what? Maybe we shouldn’t invest in building more multifamily housing.’ And what that does is make housing more scarce going forward,” said Alexander Whalley, associate professor of business and economics at the U of C.

“It really has these unintended consequences.”

Not all experts agree on that front. |Read more https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/hard-pill-to-swallow-seniors-respond-to-rent-increases-at-southwest-calgary-retirement-home-1.6648451| calgary.ctvnews.ca/hard-pill-t…

#abpoli #yyc #calgary #seniors #FixedIncome #rent #Inflation #greed #ucp #nixon

Texas secessionists feel more emboldened than ever

Lead image for this article
Kyle Biedermann, a former state representative and current Legislative Advisor for the Texas Nationalist Movement’s Advisory Board, speaks during the Saturday opening event at TEXIT in Waco, on Nov. 11, 2023. Credit:
Evan L’Roy for The Texas Tribune

No taxes or Faucis, no speed zones or toll roads. No liberals, no gun laws. No windmills, no poor people. A separate currency, stock market and gold depository. “Complete control of our own immigration policy.” World-class college football, a farewell to regulators. And unthinkable, unimaginable wealth.

“We are going to be so rich,” he chanted. “We’re gonna be rich. We are gonna be rich. We. Are. Going. To Be. Rich! … As soon as we declare independence, we’re going to be wealthy. I personally believe that our personal GDP will double in five to seven years.”

“The independence of Texas is good for humanity as a whole,” he added to cheers.

Kamau-Imani, a Houston-based preacher, was among 100 or so people who spent the weekend at the Waco Convention Center for the first conference of the Texas Nationalist Movement, which since 2005 has advocated for the Lone Star State to break away from the United States — a “TEXIT,” as they call it.

Supporters of the movement said they are more energized and optimistic than ever about the prospect of an independent Texas, and pointed to appearances or support from current and former lawmakers — including state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, who spoke at the event — as evidence that their movement is far from fringe. The get-together also came as TEXIT supporters celebrated what they believe is crucial momentum: Days before the meeting, the Texas Nationalist Movement announced that it was more than halfway to the roughly 100,000 signatures needed to put a non-binding secession referendum on the Texas Republican primary ballot.

Experts say it’s a much easier sell in theory than in practice. Roughly one-third of Texas’ annual budget is supported by federal funds, according to the budget and policy nonprofit Every Texan. And, upon breaking from the United States, experts note that Texas would immediately have to supplement key programs like social security.

“To replace the government services we rely on, the nation of Texas would have to find a way to get an additional nine thousand dollars or so per person living here — possibly through income or sales taxes,” Eva DeLuna, a state budget analyst at Every Texan, told Texas Monthly last year. “For a two-person household, that’s eighteen thousand dollars coming out of your pocket.”

Steve’s note:Maybe WEXIT and TEXIT can join forces and become an oil producing conglomerate. Maybe they can RULE the world!! Maybe this is what happens when you sniff too much gas… |Read more https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/15/texas-secession-texit/| texastribune.org/2023/11/15/te…

#abpoli #texas #WEXIT #TEXIT #secessionists #conglomerate #independent #oil #gas #fracking #republicans

Analysis: China’s emissions set to fall in 2024 after record growth in clean energy

Emissions are set to fall in 2024

China’s CO2 emissions have seen explosive growth over recent decades, pausing only for brief periods due to cyclical shocks.

Over the past 20 years, its annual emissions from fossil fuels and cement have climbed quickly almost every year – as shown in the figure below – interrupted only by the economic slowdown of 2015-16 and the impact of zero-Covid restrictions in 2022.

While CO2 is rebounding in 2023 from zero-Covid lows (see: Why emissions grew in Q3 of 2023), there have also been record additions of low-carbon capacity, setting up a surge in electricity generation next year. (See: Solar, wind and hydropower set to surge in 2024.)

Combined with a rebound in hydro output following a series of droughts, these record additions are all but guaranteed to push fossil-fuel electricity generation and CO2 emissions into decline in 2024, as shown in the figure below.

Moreover, with the power sector being China’s second-largest emitter and with other major sectors, such as cement and steel, already seeing CO2 falling, this drop in power-sector emissions could drive a sustained, structural emissions decline for the country as a whole.

This is because – for the first time – the rate of low-carbon energy expansion is now sufficient to not only meet, but exceed the average annual increase in China’s demand for electricity overall. (See: Continued clean power growth can peak emissions in 2024.)

If this pace is maintained, or accelerated, it would mean that China’s electricity generation from fossil fuels would enter a period of structural decline – which would also be a first. |Read more https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-emissions-set-to-fall-in-2024-after-record-growth-in-clean-energy/| carbonbrief.org/analysis-china…

#china #emissions #C02 #reduction #solar #wind #Hydro