Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Ford’s Toronto Housing fixer calls for sale of 900 properties across the city

The man brought in by Mayor Rob Ford to clean up Toronto Community Housing wants to sell more than 900 houses to the highest bidder and use the money to fix what he calls a “crisis” at the country’s largest landlord.

Case Ootes, who is set to leave his post next week, expects the sale of the single homes – scattered throughout the city – could raise as much as $400-million dollars. That money could then be used to help tackle a $650-million repair backlog, he said.

Calling the situation a “crisis,” Mr Ootes said if the repair backlog is not addressed, units will continue to be removed from the market because they are not fit to live in. There are 81 single homes that stand empty in TCHC’s portfolio, he said, because they need major work – everything from new heating systems to roofs.

“I can tell you if this plan is not approved with this path we are on now, the status quo will guarantee more empty houses,” he said.

At a news conference in a building with a 66 per cent vacancy rate, Mr Ootes said TCHC's new board must also look at options for such “outdated and underused buildings,” which he said require either renovation or sale.

As well, he said city and provincial rules need to be changed to give landlords more freedom to manage their assets in order to do the most good. In particular, he pointed to rules that require the province to approve the sale of any unit, and the requirement that every unit that is removed be replaced with another in the same area.

City council is set to appoint a new TCHC board at its regular meeting next week, which will include members of city council, two tenant representatives and seven citizens chosen by a nomination panel. The citizen appointments have not been made public, but will be considered at next week’s council meeting.

Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail  

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