This week, you’ll see the launch of a new pilot program from Hamilton Community Foundation as “HCF” continues its decades-long partnership with The Hamilton Spectator by funding a reporter dedicated to the housing and homelessness beat.

Building on a long history of collaboration on local social issues including poverty in our community and neighbourhood health disparities, this initiative seeks to increase the public’s access to information on housing and homelessness to improve awareness of facts behind the causes, impact, and potential solutions to this critical issue. The housing crisis continues unabated and is one of, if not the most important issues facing our city. HCF believes journalism is key to addressing this crisis. Quality, ethical journalism plays a critical role in keeping the public informed and in keeping government, the private and non-profit sectors, and people in positions of power accountable for the public good. The housing file is no exception.

Last year, HCF launched SCAFFOLD, our affordable housing initiative that includes a $50 million commitment over the next 10 years, to the construction and preservation of supportive and affordable housing. This commitment was the culmination of years of work that started with a mortgage to Indwell in 2015 that helped finance 47 units of supportive housing. Since then, HCF has invested $22.3 million, with current commitments raising that to $31.2 million, contributing to the creation of over 1,000 units of supportive and affordable housing. This is coupled with grants to support programs like eviction-prevention that work to mitigate the immediate impacts of the housing crisis. Leveraging its capital is one way for HCF to address this issue. But to be truly effective, we need to use all the tools at our disposal — not just money. This partnership with The Spectator leverages another available tool – journalism that serves the public interest.

I want to make clear that HCF is committed to The Spectator’s editorial independence: we have no say in the journalistic content produced with this funding. The credibility and contribution that journalism makes to the public good depends on this freedom. This is especially true at a time when local news outlets across North America are shuttering their doors, and we witness the growth of news sources that are more interested in clicks than facts. It’s an environment where rampant misinformation and disinformation fuel polarization, fragment social cohesion and truth becomes a casualty. Hamilton is fortunate to still have a daily news outlet committed to journalistic integrity and standards. And while I’m sure not everyone — including me — agrees with The Spectator all the time, its contribution to a well-informed public discourse on critical issues and to the social fabric of our city is essential.

In funding the housing and homelessness beat, HCF follows a rapidly-growing philanthropic trend known as “philanthrojournalism” with close to 40 Canadian foundations and many more in the US supporting an independent and free press, including Atkinson, Inspirit and Winnipeg Foundations in Canada, and the Knight, Ford and MacArthur Foundations in the US. It brings to life our mission of driving positive change by connecting people, ideas and resources, by making it relevant to the times in which we live and addressing housing and homelessness in a new and innovative way. So, it makes sense that as part of this funding commitment all articles associated with the partnership will be fully available online without the need for a subscription.

The housing crisis is complex, overwhelming, frustrating and elicits a variety of opinions on how to solve it and who is to blame. More importantly, it affects all of us, particularly the most marginalized and vulnerable in our society. Journalism done well can often help us make sense of it all by increasing our understanding of the issue or uncovering critical information in the public interest, allowing us to hold those with power accountable for their decisions that either address or exacerbate the problem. And just like The Spectator, journalism isn’t perfect, but it is essential.

Rudi Wallace is President & CEO of Hamilton Community Foundation which has been driving positive change in this city since 1954.