Latest news with #Heinrichs
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
For some voters in smaller Manitoba cities, housing is a top election priority
Although housing is often seen as a big-city problem, some voters in smaller Manitoba cities say housing is their focus in this federal election — from affordability to the types of homes the next government should prioritize. Jaired Heinrichs is hoping to buy his first home, budgeting monthly to save for a down payment. He and his wife of nearly two years recently moved into a new but "small" apartment in Winkler, a rapidly growing city in the southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar. It had a population of nearly 14,000 in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. At his kitchen table, Heinrichs pencils in dollar figures for gas, groceries, rent and more on a spreadsheet. After essentials, he says he barely has anything left over. "When rent is as much, or if not more, than a mortgage payment, [it] makes it very hard for a young couple like me and my wife, Laura, to save up" for a house, Heinrichs said last week. The 25-year-old construction worker and welder acknowledges he's made mistakes when it comes to his finances but says he's frustrated about being priced out of today's housing market. He aims to continue training to become a certified heavy-duty diesel mechanic, but he's also looking to the next federal government to help make first-time homeownership more achievable — and help put his dreams of owning an acreage and a home like his parents within reach. "That way it gives young Canadians like myself and my wife a chance to get forward in life," he said. "I feel like I'm really spinning my tires." Meanwhile, Valdine Alycia, 40, is also concerned about their future housing prospects. Alycia lives with an episodic and progressive neurological disability in Thompson, a city with a population of around 13,000 in the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski. Alycia, who uses they/them pronouns, made changes to their childhood home, including having a smart home system installed, to make it easier and safer to stay there. In the future, they might need an elevator, grab bars in the bathroom and wider hallways to continue living independently as their disability progresses, Alycia said. However, the accessible housing they'll one day need is scarce in Thompson, they said. "I would love to see all of the parties committing to Indigenous housing and housing for people with disabilities," said Alycia, who is Métis. About eight million Canadians aged 15 and older live with a disability, according to Statistics Canada. With this in mind, Alycia said they're alarmed there haven't been more specific pledges for accessible housing and people with disabilities during the campaign leading up to the April 28 election. "I believe that Thompson is completely overlooked in all of the conversations when it comes to housing," they said. All major federal parties have announced commitments for housing. The Conservatives have pledged to cut GST on new homes up to $1.3 million and incentivize municipalities to boost home building by at least 15 per cent each year. The Liberals say they'll eliminate GST for first-time homebuyers of properties under $1 million and launch an agency called Build Canada Homes that will act as a developer, overseeing affordable home building in Canada. The NDP says it would fund a $16-billion strategy to construct affordable and rent-controlled homes, prevent large corporate landlords from buying up affordable homes, and require the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to offer low-interest, public-backed mortgages. University of Winnipeg urban and inner-city studies professor Shauna MacKinnon said she finds parts of the Liberal and New Democrat platforms appealing, but thinks details on social housing in the major party platforms are missing. MacKinnon, who is also a member of the Right to Housing Coalition, says her organization is calling on the next federal government to build at least 50,000 subsidized rent-geared-to-income units each year for the next decade. MacKinnon criticized the Liberals' national housing strategy, launched in 2017, for allocating too much to private sector housing and median market rentals. "Housing has been built. It's just not the housing that is addressing the needs of the … lowest-income households, so we really need to shift the investment to ensure that that is the priority housing," MacKinnon said. As for Heinrichs, he likes the Conservatives' plan and says would appreciate a GST cut on his first home, along with regulations on rent, but questions why the cost of homes are so high. "Why are our homes costing over $1 million?" he said. "That's ludicrous." He also questioned the helpfulness of a previous Liberal government announcement from last year that saw first-time homebuyers become eligible for 30-year mortgage amortization periods, up from the standard 25-year term. Although the longer timeframe would reduce monthly payments, "the longer the loan, the more interest you pay," Heinrichs said. Homes in the Pembina Valley, which includes Winkler, are going for an average $325,000, local real estate agent Dave Kasdorf told CBC News last month. New houses are selling for an average of roughly $400,000, with prices increasing three to five per cent annually, he said. "First-time homebuyers are having a real hard time getting into the marketplace," said Kasdorf. Heinrichs and his wife hope to purchase a below-average-priced home within five years, and he's asking for more help from Canada's next leader. "Please just remember us bottom-of-the-barrel Canadians that are just … getting by, and just please make it affordable for us to live again — because it's not."
CBC
24-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
For some voters in smaller Manitoba cities, housing is a top election priority
Social Sharing Although housing is often seen as a big-city problem, some voters in smaller Manitoba cities say housing is their focus in this federal election — from affordability to the types of homes the next government should prioritize. Jaired Heinrichs is hoping to buy his first home, budgeting monthly to save for a down payment. He and his wife of nearly two years recently moved into a new but "small" apartment in Winkler, a rapidly growing city in the southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar. It had a population of nearly 14,000 in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. At his kitchen table, Heinrichs pencils in dollar figures for gas, groceries, rent and more on a spreadsheet. After essentials, he says he barely has anything left over. "When rent is as much, or if not more, than a mortgage payment, [it] makes it very hard for a young couple like me and my wife, Laura, to save up" for a house, Heinrichs said last week. The 25-year-old construction worker and welder acknowledges he's made mistakes when it comes to his finances but says he's frustrated about being priced out of today's housing market. He aims to continue training to become a certified heavy-duty diesel mechanic, but he's also looking to the next federal government to help make first-time homeownership more achievable — and help put his dreams of owning an acreage and a home like his parents within reach. "That way it gives young Canadians like myself and my wife a chance to get forward in life," he said. "I feel like I'm really spinning my tires." Meanwhile, Valdine Alycia, 40, is also concerned about their future housing prospects. Alycia lives with an episodic and progressive neurological disability in Thompson, a city with a population of around 13,000 in the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski. Alycia, who uses they/them pronouns, made changes to their childhood home, including having a smart home system installed, to make it easier and safer to stay there. In the future, they might need an elevator, grab bars in the bathroom and wider hallways to continue living independently as their disability progresses, Alycia said. However, the accessible housing they'll one day need is scarce in Thompson, they said. "I would love to see all of the parties committing to Indigenous housing and housing for people with disabilities," said Alycia, who is Métis. About eight million Canadians aged 15 and older live with a disability, according to Statistics Canada. With this in mind, Alycia said they're alarmed there haven't been more specific pledges for accessible housing and people with disabilities during the campaign leading up to the April 28 election. "I believe that Thompson is completely overlooked in all of the conversations when it comes to housing," they said. Party promises for housing All major federal parties have announced commitments for housing. The Conservatives have pledged to cut GST on new homes up to $1.3 million and incentivize municipalities to boost home building by at least 15 per cent each year. The Liberals say they'll eliminate GST for first-time homebuyers of properties under $1 million and launch an agency called Build Canada Homes that will act as a developer, overseeing affordable home building in Canada. The NDP says it would fund a $16-billion strategy to construct affordable and rent-controlled homes, prevent large corporate landlords from buying up affordable homes, and require the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to offer low-interest, public-backed mortgages. University of Winnipeg urban and inner-city studies professor Shauna MacKinnon said she finds parts of the Liberal and New Democrat platforms appealing, but thinks details on social housing in the major party platforms are missing. MacKinnon, who is also a member of the Right to Housing Coalition, says her organization is calling on the next federal government to build at least 50,000 subsidized rent-geared-to-income units each year for the next decade. MacKinnon criticized the Liberals' national housing strategy, launched in 2017, for allocating too much to private sector housing and median market rentals. "Housing has been built. It's just not the housing that is addressing the needs of the … lowest-income households, so we really need to shift the investment to ensure that that is the priority housing," MacKinnon said. As for Heinrichs, he likes the Conservatives' plan and says would appreciate a GST cut on his first home, along with regulations on rent, but questions why the cost of homes are so high. "Why are our homes costing over $1 million?" he said. "That's ludicrous." He also questioned the helpfulness of a previous Liberal government announcement from last year that saw first-time homebuyers become eligible for 30-year mortgage amortization periods, up from the standard 25-year term. Although the longer timeframe would reduce monthly payments, "the longer the loan, the more interest you pay," Heinrichs said. Homes in the Pembina Valley, which includes Winkler, are going for an average $325,000, local real estate agent Dave Kasdorf told CBC News last month. New houses are selling for an average of roughly $400,000, with prices increasing three to five per cent annually, he said. "First-time homebuyers are having a real hard time getting into the marketplace," said Kasdorf. Heinrichs and his wife hope to purchase a below-average-priced home within five years, and he's asking for more help from Canada's next leader. "Please just remember us bottom-of-the-barrel Canadians that are just … getting by, and just please make it affordable for us to live again — because it's not." Manitobans casting ballots in federal election for housing priorities 6 minutes ago Duration 3:01 Manitobans across the province say they're focused on housing in this federal election, from affordability to the types of homes the next government should prioritize.
Boston Globe
20-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Researchers find a hint at how to delay Alzheimer's symptoms. Now they have to prove it
Now 50, Heinrichs has been treated in that study for more than a decade and remains symptom-free despite inheriting an Alzheimer's-causing gene that killed his father and brother around the same age. If blocked funding stops Heinrichs' doses, 'how much time do we have?' asked his wife, Rachel Chavkin. 'This trial is life.' Advertisement Two drugs sold in the US can modestly slow worsening of early-stage Alzheimer's by clearing the brain of one of its hallmarks, a sticky gunk called amyloid. But until now, there haven't been hints that removing amyloid far earlier – many years before the first symptoms appear – just might postpone the disease. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The research led by Washington University in St. Louis involves families that pass down rare gene mutations almost guaranteeing they'll develop symptoms at the same age their affected relatives did – information that helps scientists tell if treatments are having any effect. The new findings center on a subset of 22 participants who received amyloid-removing drugs the longest, on average eight years. Long-term amyloid removal cut in half their risk of symptom onset, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Lancet Neurology. Despite the study's small size, 'it's incredibly important,' said Northwestern University neuroscientist David Gate, who wasn't involved with the research. Now participants have been switched from an earlier experimental drug to Leqembi, an IV treatment approved in the US, to try to answer the obvious next question. 'What we want to determine over the next five years is how strong is the protection,' said Washington University's Dr. Randall Bateman, who directs the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network of studies involving families with these rare genes. 'Will they ever get the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease if we keep treating them?' Advertisement Here's the worry: Bateman raised money to start that confirmatory study while seeking National Institutes of Health funding for the full project but his grant has been delayed as required reviews were canceled. It's one example of how millions of dollars in research have been stalled as NIH grapples with funding restrictions and mass firings. At the same time researchers wonder if NIH will shift focus away from amyloid research after comments by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, nominated as the agency's new director. 'One of the reasons I think that we have not made progress in Alzheimer's, as much as we ought to have, is because the NIH has not supported a sufficiently wide range of hypotheses,' Bhattacharya told senators, responding to one who brought up an example of earlier science misconduct unrelated to current research. Scientists don't know exactly what causes Alzheimer's, a mind-destroying disease that affects nearly 7 million Americans, mostly late in life. What's clear is that silent changes occur in the brain at least two decades before the first symptoms -- and that sticky amyloid is a major contributor. At some point amyloid buildup appears to trigger a protein named tau to begin killing neurons, which drives cognitive decline. Tau-fighting drugs now are being tested. Researchers also are studying other factors including inflammation, the brain's immune cells and certain viruses. NIH's focus expanded as researchers found more potential culprits. In 2013, NIH's National Institute on Aging funded 14 trials of possible Alzheimer's drugs, over a third targeting amyloid. By last fall, there were 68 drug trials and about 18% targeted amyloid. Northwestern's Gate counts himself among scientists who 'think amyloid isn't everything,' but said nothing has invalidated the amyloid hypothesis. He recently used brain tissue preserved from an old amyloid study to learn how immune cells called microglia can clear those plaques and then switch to helping the brain heal, possible clues for improving today's modest therapies. Advertisement For now, amyloid clearly is implicated somehow and families with Alzheimer's-causing genes are helping answer a critical question for anyone at risk: Can blocking amyloid buildup really stave off symptoms? Without NIH funding, Bateman said, that opportunity will be lost. 'It's absolutely insane,' said longtime study participant June Ward, who lives near Asheville, North Carolina, and plans to ask friends to complain to lawmakers. Ward turns 64 in June and is healthy, two years older than when her mother's symptoms appeared. 'It is exciting to think about the possibility that Alzheimer's disease might not be what gets me,' she said. In New York, Heinrichs said he has hope that his 3-year-old son won't 'experience the stress and sorrow that I lived through as a young man to watch my father fade away.' 'We need the NIH to be not politicized,' added Chavkin, his wife. 'It's just about keeping people alive or helping them live better. And in this case, it's helping my husband survive.'
