Toronto’s affordable housing wait list set yet another record in November: 87,638 households or 161,866 women, men and children. The city’s wait list has been setting a new record, month after month, since the recession of 2008. The November numbers are up a staggering 27% in one year from 2011 and up 69% since the start of […]
Archives for 2012
Clarity and openness could create new possibilities in any municipal budget, what about Toronto?
In the December issue of Spacing magazine, John Lorinc laments Toronto’s wilted budget process and demands a restructuring of budget documents to better communicate and serve the city’s needs. Acknowledging budget mayhem as a systemic issue, Lorinc maintains that the city’s municipal budget documents continue to “obscure, rather than enhance, understanding”, much to the dismay […]
Five confirmed homeless deaths as Toronto Budget Committee debates cuts to housing and homelessness funding
As Toronto City Council’s Budget Committee begins public hearings today on the draft 2013 municipal budget (which includes cuts to housing and homelessness funding and services), street pastor Doug Johnson Hatlem reports that there are at least five confirmed deaths of homeless people over the past month. That’s the most number of confirmed deaths in […]
Toronto’s 2013 budget: The Impact of Zero on City Services
City staff is recommending that Toronto City Councillors approve an operating budget that increases spending by less than 0.5 percent for the second year in a row. The Police Chief and Council have been debating the feasibility and impact of flatlining the police services budget. Whatever your view on police spending, the conversation about flatlining […]
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What happens when we don’t address violence against women in this country? Even more violence against women.
Remembering December 6 continues to be an important exercise for Canadians. Though there is no excuse for not considering how violence impacts the lives of Canadian women every single day, it’s crucial that we remain appropriately horrified when someone kills a woman just for being a woman. But there are other ways violence against women […]
More on Toronto budget 2013 housing and homelessness numbers
Toronto’s 2013 municipal budget sets housing and homelessness spending at $665 million – down $128 million from 2012 and an even bigger cut from 2011’s municipal approved budget of $923 million. While the facts about the specific spending decreases are clear, the analysis around the 2013 budget for Toronto’s Shelter, Support and Housing Administration paints […]
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Time for Ontario to make some tough choices: poverty and inequality are not inevitable
In 2008, the Ontario government committed to reduce child poverty by 25 percent in 5 years. 2013 marks the final year in the province’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy, and a new report by the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction shows that we have a long way to go to meet our target. 25 […]
Dealing with the impacts of refugee health cuts
The health impacts of the federal government’s decision to cut health benefits to many refugees are becoming increasingly apparent. In our analysis, conducted prior to the cuts being implemented, we found that the changes to the Interim Federal Health Program would result in the severe reduction or elimination of health care services for refugees who […]
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Big cuts planned for Toronto housing funding
The City of Toronto’s Shelter, Support and Housing is set to take a massive $128 million cut in housing and homelessness investments in the draft 2013 budget – down from $793 million in 2012 to $665 million in the coming year. The 2012 budget had, in turn, a $130 million cut from its approved budget […]
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2013 Toronto Budget Continues Erosion Of Services
If the City of Toronto 2013 recommended operating budget is approved it will result in continued erosion of city services. The recommended total spending increase is less than inflation and population growth. This would mean further cuts in real, per capita services. There are proposed reductions in “Citizen Services A” of 3.1 percent. These include soft […]
Continue Reading2013 Toronto Budget Continues Erosion Of Services