Residents across the City of Toronto experience significant disparities in housing, income and mental health and well-being. These inequities create and exacerbate health inequities across population groups, disproportionately affecting those who are low-income, racialized, people with disabilities and newcomers.
The City of Toronto budget makes a big difference in the health and well-being of all Torontonians as it makes important decisions on critical city services that can improve the social determinants of health, including on housing, transit, poverty and mental well-being. The 2025 City Budget should ensure all residents can thrive by prioritizing reducing health inequities by action on the social determinants of health.
Housing
Toronto City Councillors must commit to doing their share to end chronic homelessness within 10 years by laying out for Torontonians how many persons will be lifted out of chronic homelessness by municipal action each year. Ultimately, the goal should be to provide healthy, safe and affordable housing for all. We have previously called upon the City and Mayor to reduce, through municipal action, the net total of persons experiencing homelessness by at least one-third by 2033. This budget and future budgets should demonstrate how the City will reduce homelessness by 3.3 per cent every year until that goal is achieved.
The 2024 budget included important funding for expanding shelter services but that has not been adequate in meeting the growing need for safe and affordable housing for those most in need. As one step towards ending chronic homelessness, the City’s 2025 budget must at least include funding for enough emergency shelter spaces for all those who require it. Although other levels of government could and should help, Toronto’s City Council has the final choice on whether everyone has a bed this winter or not.
In addition to being an evidence-based approach to addressing homelessness (and other challenges), supportive housing is the ethical alternative that must be offered to those living in encampments. Budget 2025 should do more to advance the growth of much needed supportive housing in the city. The Toronto Supportive Housing Growth Plan estimated 18,000 new supportive housing units would be needed in Toronto alone by 2030. The City of Toronto should take a lead and commit to take on some of that burden with municipal action and funding.
Public transit
The City must act to build a truly equitable transit system that can benefit everyone regardless of where they live in Toronto. Public transit should be adequately funded so those who need it the most, including those who are racialized, low-income, people living with disabilities, and newcomers, can get where they need to go in a reliable, safe and timely manner.
The City budget should demonstrate how public transit will be adequately funded, with municipal targets for transit expansion in City-identified underserved areas. Additional service must be added, and new transit must be built, that ensure more people have access to essential health promoting resources such as affordable housing, employment and education, nutritious food and child care.
As expansion begins, the City should also fund a public consultation that calls on community members, subject matter experts, transit advocacy groups and transit operators to inform a long-term vision for a transit system that works for all residents.
Poverty
Budget 2025 must address rising poverty and the declining mental health and well-being of many living in Toronto. Over the past year, we have continued to see significant increases in the cost of living, which has impacted many people’s ability to pay rent, buy nutritious groceries, participate in social activities, and more. The current crisis disproportionately impacts structurally disadvantaged communities, particularly low-income residents. Poverty reduction must become a central focus of the development of this and future City budgets.
The City should immediately fully fund and dramatically improve its Poverty Reduction Strategy. This includes fully implementing the Fair Pass Transit Discount Program so that it provides transit access to all low-income residents. Other programs that address additional social determinants of health, such as affordable housing, food access, and quality jobs and incomes, should also be improved and expanded.
The City should measure its success on ending poverty in Toronto based on how many dollars it either invests into residents below the poverty line or how many dollars municipal actions save residents below the poverty line.
Mental health and well-being
Wellesley Institute partners with other community organizations in Thrive Toronto, an advisory committee that released a mental health plan focused on mental wellness and psychological health. The plan asserts the need for a coordinated, multi-sector approach to addressing the systemic causes of poor mental health and well-being, such as poverty, income, housing security and racism.
The Mayor of Toronto should take on this municipally led initiative and develop and fully fund a sustainable and collective mental health and well-being strategy for Toronto. The plan should focus on implementing community-based initiatives to improve the mental health and well-being of residents and act on the social determinants of health to build a resilient city.
In the face of provincial prohibition of life-saving substance use healthcare, including needle exchanges and supervised consumption services, the City budget must further support the services that remain. It should add support for, and create additional, mobile services. Finally, it should undertake a review across all city services to see where new opportunities exist to fill this deadly gap.
Conclusion
The City of Toronto has the power and resources to take significant steps towards ending homelessness and increasing the supply of affordable and supportive housing, creating a new vision for a more equitable public transit system, reducing poverty, and improving the mental health and well-being of Torontonians through this year’s budget.
Torontonians who are suffering today cannot wait until next year.