He says: 'In the current recession, which is biting further and further into the North-East, small businesses feel that they are carrying the main thrust of the banking community's claw back of their lending.'

One of the major causes of the affordable housing problem is the number of low-income households in Canada who are also subject to provincial and federal claw backs and taxbacks, for example, on back to work and the federal-provincial National Child Benefit (NCB).