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Affordable Housing Blog

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On: Dec. 6, 2011 Wellesley Institute’s Deputation on the 2012 Toronto Budget

The Wellesley Institute has been working alongside countless inviduals and organizations over the past few months to inform budget-related decision-making at Toronto City Hall in our efforts to improve population health.  On Wednesday, December 7th, Wellesley Institute CEO, Rick Blickstead, will be delivering a deputation on the 2012 Toronto Budget to the City of Toronto’s Budget Committee.

Read the full submission here.

Budget decisions that result in the elimination of secure jobs, increase unemployment, reduce access to services that Torontonians rely on, and increase social and economic inequality will harm the health of all Torontonians.

But, there are alternatives:

The budget documents released on November 28th show that the city is not facing a fiscal crisis. This means that councillors have options: they can make choices other than the service reductions in the proposed 2012 budget. If councillors use only a part of the 2011 surplus and enact a normal property tax increase, they can balance the budget without service cuts and increases to user fees and still set aside funds for other purposes.

To illustrate what’s at stake, we outline some of the health implications of proposed service cuts in three critical public service delivery areas: public transit, student nutrition, and housing:

Public transit is a cornerstone of a healthy city. Reducing the quality of transit service has a number of critical health impacts, including:

  • Increased probability of obesity and related health outcomes, including respiratory ailments, coronary heart disease and diabetes through greater automobile dependency.
  • Increased social exclusion through increased isolation.
  • Increased stress and reduced well-being for drivers and transit users through increased traffic congestion.
  • Increased respiratory problems for children and seniors, and increased heart health problems and premature death for adults through increased air pollution from congestion due to single-passenger traffic.
  • Reduction in city’s economic health and lost job creation opportunities through reduced economic competitiveness.

Student nutrition programs benefit kids’ academic performance and help them develop good eating habits that benefit their health far into the future. Children in low-income families, where good nutrition is hard to afford, will be hurt the most by cuts to these programs.

Housing is one of the fundamental social determinants of health. There is already a desperate shortage of affordable housing in Toronto. Some of the health impacts of making cuts to new affordable housing development, reducing the number of bed nights available in shelters, and shutting down three homeless shelters, as proposed in the 2012 budget, are:

  • Increased likelihood of infectious diseases, particularly respiratory infections, through increased crowded housing conditions.
  • Increased risk of health problems or disability in childhood because of inadequate housing.
  • Increased illness and premature death through increase in homeless population.

An evaluation of the health impacts of these cuts illustrates how their implementation will create more problems for the city and its residents than they will solve. In the interest of protecting the health and well-being of Toronto and its residents, councillors must consider the health implications of each proposed service cut when evaluating options to balance the budget.

There are better, healthier options for balancing the 2012 budget. We urge councillors to consider the health impacts of each of the cuts being proposed in the 2012 budget and make choices that will support a city building budget: one that builds a more equitable, more prosperous and healthier city for us all.

Click here for more on the 2012 Toronto budget and the Wellesley Institute’s efforts. 

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On: Nov. 6, 2011 Residents Reference Panel on Household Income

The Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott joined other urban experts at the Residents Reference Panel on Household Income Saturday afternoon. His presentation focused on affordable housing and homelessness issues and challenges facing Toronto, and pragmatic solutions. The Residents Reference Panel is a process to engage Torontonians in a deeper engagement on critical municipal issues.

Shapcott MASS LBP Presentation 2011

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On: Oct. 25, 2011 Anti-Camping Clause Removed From Proposed Amendments to Toronto’s Streets By-Law

Thanks to quiet efforts by the Wellesley Institute and other advocates for the city’s homeless — including Councillor Mike Layton — a clause prohibiting “camping,” “dwelling,” and “lodging” on Toronto’s streets and in public areas has been removed from the proposed amendments to Municipal Code Chapter 743 (“Use of Streets and Sidewalks”) that will be going before the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee for approval in November.

The proposed amendments to the by-law, which governs the use of city streets, sidewalks and public spaces, were the result of an effort to harmonize legislation from the city’s seven pre-amalgamation municipalities into a single, consistent by-law that uniformly manages activities occurring on public streets. This particular clause was entirely new, however, as none of the seven municipalities had had any regulations regarding camping, dwelling, or lodging on city streets.

The Streets Bylaw Staff Report includes both the rationale for the clause’s removal as well as the proposed amendments in their final form.

While relatively novel in Canada, in the United States, laws like the one quietly inserted into Toronto’s Street By-law are far more common and have been the subject of much contention and debate since the 1990s.  The concern has been that such legislation effectively criminalizes homelessness and the negative effects of such legislation across the country have been well-documented.

A 2009 report by The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless in the United States entitled “Homes Not Handcuffs: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities“  includes the results of research regarding laws and practices in 273 American cities related to the criminalization of homelessness. Legal challenges to these laws are common, and the report also documents the lawsuits from various jurisdictions in which those measures and practices have been challenged. In 2008, a similar by-law in Victoria, BC was struck down by the BC Supreme Court on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and a violation of the Charter rights of people who are homeless.

As page seven of the staff report makes clear, the clauses included in the current and amended by-law can still be used to harass and move homeless people from streets and public places, but preventing the addition of another measure that more clearly and unambiguously criminalizes the activities of people who are homeless should be regarded an unqualified success.

Many thanks and congratulations to all who contributed to this effort. We look forward to the final approval of Toronto’s amended Streets by-law–free of the anti-camping clause–in the coming months.

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On: Oct. 21, 2011 Housing, homelessness and Ontario’s provincial election: Presentation notes

The Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott, presented to lawyers and community legal workers at a meeting of Toronto legal clinics on October 20 on challenges and opportunities arising from the provincial election.

Legal Clinics October 2011
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On: Oct. 21, 2011 Plan to sell-off TCHC homes an ‘act of desperation’

As the board of Toronto Community Housing Company meets today to consider a plan to sell-off more than 700 of its homes, leading housing experts – including the Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott – are urging the public housing board, and Toronto City Council, to consider better options. In an article in today’s Globe and Mail, various alternatives are set out. With a record-breaking 80,955 households on Toronto’s affordable housing wait list, reducing the number of affordable units in the TCHC portfolio will stretch out the time for those on the wait list. The Wellesley Institute identified a number of concerns regarding the previous plans to sell-off TCHC housing.

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Housing, homelessness, income and health: Presentation notes

The Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott, sets out the links between housing, homelessness, income and health and draws housing and homelessness lessons in this presentation to York University health policy students on October 19, 2011.

 

York University Housing Presentation October 2011

 

York University Presentation – Michael Shapcott – October 2011

 

 

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On: Oct. 17, 2011 Time for adult conversation about housing and homelessness indicators and measures

Canada is behind other countries in measuring the many dimensions of homelessness and precarious housing. This means it’s almost impossible to assess the scale of need, the appropriate resources that are required and to evaluate the impact of policy interventions. The Wellesley Institute commissioned housing policy expert Steve Pomeroy to start this critical conversation.

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Are we making any difference? Steve Pomeroy’s discussion brief on measures to assess housing outcomes.

“Are We making Any Difference?” by Steve Pomeroy, Oct 5 2011

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If you can’t count it, you can’t manage it; a policy backgrounder from the Wellesley Institute.

Housing Indicators Flip Sheet

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Part of the Wellesley Institute’s ongoing series on Precarious Housing in Canada

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On: Oct. 14, 2011 Homes for Toronto: Presentation on what we can learn from our history

The history of housing in Toronto – and Canada – has been a series of ups and downs. We’ve had many successes, but we’ve also had periods of drought, when precarious housing and homelessness has grown worse. Michael Shapcott, the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, scanned the past century in a presentation to a Ryerson University seminar on October 14.

Ryerson University October 2011 Presentation

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On: Oct. 7, 2011 Minority Ontario government creates opportunity to bring in much-needed four-point housing plan

Michael Shapcott, Director of Housing

The minority Liberal government voters elected on October 6 provides a political opportunity for Ontario to realize a long-overdue and much-needed four-point affordable housing plan. The province’s last two minority governments delivered robust housing initiatives: In 1975, the province’s first rent regulation and tenant protection laws, which grew more substantial and effective until they were significantly dismantled in 1998; and Ontario’s first major affordable housing programs in 1985, which were successfully increased until they were shut down in 1995.

The signs of Ontario’s province-wide housing distress are clear: one in every three Ontario renter households are in core housing need – the federal government’s definition of precarious housing. Approximately 1.3 million provincial households pay 30 percent or more of their income on housing, the official definition of unaffordable housing. There are more than 152,000 households on affordable housing waiting lists across Ontario. Housing is not only the single biggest expense in the monthly budget of low and moderate-income households, but the high cost of housing is one of the biggest factors driving people to food banks because they don’t have enough money to pay the rent, and cover other basics such as food, energy, transportation and child care. Housing is also one of the most important fundamentals for good health for individuals and for the entire population. However, federal and provincial investments in affordable housing are set to drop sharply this year, and continue to decline after 2014.

A four-point housing agenda for the new minority Ontario government would include the following:

New affordable homes: Most parts of Ontario urgently need more affordable homes to accommodate people that are homeless or in grossly substandard and over-crowded housing, and also to deal with population growth. A provincial inclusionary housing policy that authorizes municipalities to introduce planning rules that would require affordable housing in all new developments is one important measure, but it needs to be combined with a long-term affordable housing supply initiative that includes committed funding. In recent years, most affordable housing development dollars in Ontario have come from the federal government, with some of these dollars matched by the province. But the federal housing investments are eroding ($1.2 billion in housing cuts this year alone), and Ontario has no plan to deal with the federal withdrawal.

Affordability measures: A universal housing benefit that would help cover the gap between household income and housing costs is long overdue. The Ontario government has dabbled in various housing supplements over the years, but – as the auditor-general noted in 2009 – none have been particularly well designed. With conventional ownership housing increasingly out of reach for low, moderate and even middle-income households, and the federal government committed to tightening mortgage eligibility rules even more, the pressure is building on the province’s private rental and social housing stock. But vacancies are low, and rents are rising in private rental markets throughout the province.

Rent regulation / rental housing protection: For almost a quarter of a century, Ontario had increasingly effective rent regulation and rental housing protection laws. In 1998, the provincial government of the day introduced “vacancy decontrol,” which allows landlords to charge any rent they want on a vacant unit. This has allowed rents to increase significantly, often much higher than the mandated provincial guideline. In addition, rent regulation is waived for newly constructed buildings. The gaps in rent regulation laws need to be patched. Ontario used to have a law that slowed the demolition or conversion of private rental housing. Although the province’s population is increasing, and there is a growing need for new rental homes, the private rental housing universe has been stagnant or declining in most parts of the province. The previous law required landlords seeking to take private rental housing off the market to ensure that the tenants were re-housed. Rent regulation and rental housing protection are key components of a critically important enhancement of tenant protection laws.

Ending homelessness / linking with supports: Ontario is lagging behind other provinces, including Alberta, in making a commitment – and backing it with a solid plan and funding – to end homelessness. The province’s so-called long-term affordable housing strategy does contain some useful measures, including a commitment to work with municipalities to create more flexibility among a variety of disjointed provincial homelessness and housing programs, but a specific provincial plan with adequate funding is lacking. A key to preventing and ending homelessness is an effective strategy that links health and social supports with housing through a “housing first” approach – successfully used in a growing number of US and Canadian jurisdictions. Ontario’s supportive housing policies have not kept pace with innovative developments in Canada and internationally.

 

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On: Oct. 3, 2011 Have a happy, and home-ful, World Habitat Day

October 3 is recognized globally as World Habitat Day, the day to recognize the importance of housing and human settlements. It is also marked as International Tenants Day. A good home is one of the most important factors in achieving good health for individuals and entire communities. The Wellesley Institute’s research and policy practice on affordable housing includes Precarious Housing in Canada – a comprehensive overview of housing and homelessness in Canada. UN Habitat is the global agency on housing and human settlements, and it has proclaimed “cities and climate change” as the theme for this year’s International Habitat Day. The Habitat International Coalition is the global network of non-governmental groups working to ensure housing for all and it has released a joint declaration for IHD.

 

Photo: Aleksandra Maslennikova

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