The new task force on the future of Toronto Community Housing Company held its organizational meeting Monday and adopted an ambitious agenda for the next four months. The Wellesley Institute backs the working group and has set out seven key priorities to protect and preserve the TCHC portfolio ranging from effective engagement of TCHC tenants, re-engaging the federal and provincial governments, and innovative financing options.
The task force was created after Toronto City Council, along with TCHC tenants, housing experts and even four former mayors of Toronto, all rejected a scheme by the board of TCHC to sell-off more than 600 homes to finance a growing repair bill for the city housing agency. The Government of Ontario’s Drummond report called on the province to negotiate a long-term housing deal with the federal government, and noted that the province has an obligation to assist Toronto and other municipalities to cope with aging and deteriorating social housing stock.
Over the next four months, the four-person task force will survey the roughly 2,200 tenants who live in single family homes in the TCHC portfolio and whose homes were threatened with sale, and it will meet with tenants, housing experts, community leaders and others to identify pragmatic options for TCHC.