{"id":248,"date":"2016-04-16T15:25:16","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T19:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2019-02-19T10:43:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T15:43:51","slug":"248","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"Escaping the poverty trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"RICHARD<\/a>

RICHARD LAUTENS \/ TORONTO STAR Order this photo
Mike Creek recently took ownership of his own condo in Regent Park after a cancer diagnosis pushed him into poverty for 17 years. Destitute, he had ended up couch-surfing and in homeless shelters.<\/p><\/div>\n

Laurie Monsebraaten<\/span><\/h4>\n

Jul 19 2010<\/span><\/p>\n

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For years, \u201chope\u201d was just a four-letter word to anti-poverty activist Mike Creek.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After working his way up in the hotel industry from dishwasher to head office manager, Creek lost it all in 1993 when he was diagnosed with cancer. He was just 37.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As he would later tell a packed Queen\u2019s Park forum, it wasn\u2019t the cancer or the depression that broke his spirit. It was the poverty.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With no workplace disability benefits, he clung to Employment Insurance while enduring nine months of chemotherapy, two surgeries, blood clots, seizures and gaping skin wounds that wouldn\u2019t heal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When his EI ran out, he washed up on welfare. Within a year, he had lost his downtown Toronto apartment, overstayed his welcome with friends and was sleeping in homeless shelters. Eventually he ended up in a subsidized apartment in a gloomy Regent Park highrise where a man was murdered the weekend he moved in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He was frightened, depressed and alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI was very sick,\u201d Creek recalls. \u201cBasically, I was just waiting to die.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But he lived.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This past spring, Creek, an outspoken champion of the poor and advocate for welfare reform, marked his own escape from poverty.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In late May he signed the mortgage for his new home in Regent Park\u2019s first condominium complex at One Cole St., near the corner of Dundas and Parliament Sts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He may be a medical miracle \u2014 Creek\u2019s non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma is in remission \u2014 but he believes his flight from poverty is no fluke. Instead, it is proof that with the right support, anyone can break poverty\u2019s grip.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI want my story to be an inspiration to others,\u201d the new homeowner says with pride. \u201cI\u2019m an example of how people can escape from poverty when given the opportunity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf I can do it, others can too,\u201d says Creek, 53, as he looks west at the city skyline from his spacious terrace, which is next door to Councillor Pam McConnell, who bought the corner unit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The 292-unit complex \u2014 in phase one of the city\u2019s 15-year Regent Park revitalization plan \u2014 is just blocks away from the decrepit highrise where he lived for a decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen I was able to move, I didn\u2019t want to leave the community,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to stay, to show others it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During 12 years on welfare and Ontario\u2019s Disability Support Plan, Creek lived on about $666 a month. With no money to go out with friends or to entertain at home, he became a recluse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI felt deserted, buried in a system that doesn\u2019t work for people or the social workers who run it,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In early 2007, Creek saw a poster in his doctor\u2019s office inviting people with a history of homelessness to participate in a new advocacy program. The 12-week program, Voices from the Street, provided a TTC pass, meals and a weekly honorarium of $60.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Creek signed up and soon learned he was not alone. He met others who had been set on the pathway to poverty by mental illness, addiction and domestic assault. And he began to understand how government programs for the poor become a trap.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When the program coordinator\u2019s position became available in early 2008, Creek applied. He got the job and soon was earning $40,000 plus benefits.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That fall, the shy, quiet-spoken cancer survivor told his story to a Queen\u2019s Park forum of more than 500 social activists \u2014 including Children\u2019s Minister Deb Matthews, who was leading the province\u2019s anti-poverty efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As a leader in the 25-in-5 Network for Poverty Reduction, Creek helped to push Ontario into adopting a goal of reducing child poverty in the province by 5 per cent within five years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When the first Regent Park condos went on the market in February 2009, Creek was the fourth in line. He saved $1,000 a month for almost a year for the $11,000 down payment on his $200,000 600-square-foot unit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen I first moved in, I cried for a week,\u201d he confesses, still barely able to believe how far he has come. \u201cIt was very emotional for me. It still is.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The move has also improved his health. He has shed almost 60 pounds since he began regular workouts in the condo\u2019s exercise room. His skin wounds are healing and he has been able to go medication-free for the first time in more than a decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He credits good health to his better living conditions and sense of financial and personal security.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His personal journey has reinforced his passion to push for change.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI never dreamed of home ownership, let alone a job and place in society,\u201d he says. \u201cI have been so fortunate to have been given choices again. It is those choices and opportunities that I want for all citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHope is not just a four-letter word,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a dream that can come true.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Credit: Toronto Star<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurie Monsebraaten Jul 19 2010 For years, \u201chope\u201d was just a four-letter word to anti-poverty activist Mike Creek. After working his way up in the hotel industry from dishwasher to head office manager, Creek lost it all in 1993 when… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,16],"tags":[21,22,29,34,19,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":894,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}