Wanted: cheap living for women

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Before Linda Boudreault moved into a co-op, the single mother was spending three-quarters of her Employment Insurance cheque on rent and household expenses. To cut corners she cooked baby food herself, making purees out of vegetables and fruit and pouring them into ice cube trays.

When her roommate ditched their Hochelaga-Maisonneuve apartment in '95, Boudreault needed a cheaper place for her small family. After months of apartment hunting, she was accepted at the Co-op Dufresne in Centre-Sud. Her rent dropped by nearly half, and the co-op gave her a support group, a job and a yard for her son. "It's good to know the people you're living with," Boudreault says. "It creates a more secure environment."

The social-housing group FRAPRU is demanding more co-ops for people like Boudreault. And stats show that the situation is particularly critical for women: according to FRAPRU, 60 per cent of women polled in 1996 paid a quarter of their earnings on rent, compared to only 45 per cent of men polled.

FRAPRU is calling on the federal government to pay for 8,000 new social housing units a year. The demand for more social housing will be part of the International Women's March to be held on March 8.

Check out www.womenstrike8m.server101.com for details. :

--Craig Segal

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