Half of Toronto Community Housing homes to hit ‘critical’ status within five years

Half of Toronto Community Housing developments will be in “critical” condition in the next five years without additional funding for repairs, according to an internal database provided to the Star.

Already, the data shows more than 30 social-housing properties are in serious disrepair. Of 364 developments — which include houses and groupings of low-rise buildings and towers — 222 developments are ranked in “poor” condition, with dozens edging on critical condition, based on a standard ranking used by the housing corporation.

Paul Ryan budget proposal threatens housing aid programs for the poor

When Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, talks of social mobility, about helping struggling Americans move out of impoverished areas to give them greater opportunity, Shiva Daniels is the kind of person he has in mind.

A federal housing voucher allowed Daniels to escape her crime-plagued neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, and move her four children to the suburb of Garland.

‘No One Else To Blame’: Government Set To Miss Its Own Housing Target By 12 Years

Sajid Javid is set to miss one of his key housing targets by 12 years, according to figures released today by his own department.

In 2015 the Government vowed to sell enough public land to build 160,000 homes by 2020 – a pledge repeated by the Communities Secretary last month.

Yet a report from Javid’s department today shows that since that announcement, land for just 13,817 homes has been sold off – less than 9% of the promised amount

Canada's Housing Crisis 'A Failure of All of Us'

It's taken decades, but Michael Shapcott has seen troublesome housing trends become a full-blown Canadian crisis.

Shapcott was a founding member of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network who serves now as a North American voice on the Habitat International Coalition, a global network of nearly 400 housing rights organizations in 126 countries on every continent. Although his own focus is mainly on street populations, he regards the growing number of homeless in our country as the tragic but predictable outcome of years of political inaction.

The great divide in Toronto housing

Considering the February weather that Torontonians have just endured, the overheated housing market defies all logic. It feels a bit like saying that the average house price in Whitehorse just crossed $1 million.

Along with this new threshold, we hear the all-too-familiar memes: low interest rates, limited supply and excess demand all combine to create a hot and heady marketplace for sellers and real estate agents, even when it feels like -25 C outside. Young buyers beware: either hurry up or make do in a condo.

Privatizing Public Housing: The "Genocide of Poor People"

Over the phone, Candy Smallwood sounds burned out. "This'll be a great job for someone else - but not for me."

The attorney at the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco is two weeks away from leaving her post as the outreach coordinator for RAD, the acronym for the federal government's "Rental Assistance Demonstration" scheme, which may lead all of the country's public housing to become at least partially privatized.

RAD could mean fewer bedbugs, more dependable elevators and other fixes to problems that plague the city's 6,000-plus public housing units. But some tenants and housing rights activists are worried the program is just another step toward dismantling public housing altogether.

Present crisis: The expiry of social housing funding in B.C.

The already dire housing crisis in Vancouver is about to worsen with the mass expiration of funding and operating agreements for 25,000 social housing units. By 2033, 99 per cent of operating agreements across the country will have expired if current austerity measures are not reversed, amounting to $3.5 billion of reduced government expenditures annually (Steve Pomeroy, "Was Chicken Little Right? Case Studies on the Impact of Expiring Social Housing Operating Agreements," Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, p. ii). Presently there are no federal or provincial plans to initiate new or extend existing operating agreements. The forecasted federal funding for non-profit housing providers in BC for the year 2030 is zero (Alexandra Moskalyk, "The role of Public-Private Partnerships in Funding Social Housing in Canada," Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc and Social Housing Services Corporation, p. 16). This process of funding-expiry has already begun, with tenants experiencing the first wave of this unprecedented withdrawal of public housing funds. Unless a popular struggle takes shape, the entire country will move in the direction of a massive loss of public housing across the country.

Rick Santorum's Housing Hypocrisy

Rick Santorum wants the government out of every aspect of Americans' lives—especially the housing market. He pledges to eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the twin government housing giants that help guarantee 90 percent of all new mortgages in America. As for jump-starting the country's dismal housing market, Santorum wants to "let capitalism work" and allow the housing market to "find its bottom." Only then, he says, will the recovery begin. It's a plan that would make Adam Smith proud.

Yet Santorum wasn't always so opposed to government intervention in housing. In a deal that's gone unreported during his presidential run, Santorum bought his first house in 1983 with a cut-rate government-backed mortgage, according to campaign records compiled by Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Penn.), who Santorum defeated in 1994. He received his loan through a state program to boost homeownership among low- and middle-income families. Santorum, in other words, benefitted from a program whose mission mirrored that of Fannie and Freddie, the companies he now rails against and wants to dissolve. (Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley did not respond to a request for comment.)

An in-depth look at the fight to save social housing in Toronto

Under Rob Ford's administration, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation is being sold for parts, starting with more than 700 stand-alone houses scattered throughout the city core. If they are sold, thousands of people will lose their homes and Toronto's poverty problem will get worse. Now there is a talk of a "compromise" deal on this sale of social housing. But why is this plan being considered at all? Nick Day investigates.

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) voted in October to sell more than 700 of its most valuable housing units. The TCHC is the second largest provider of social housing in North America. The company owns 58,000 rental-housing units across the GTA and strives to "contribute to a city where quality affordable housing is available in vibrant neighbourhoods, where residents are proud of the place they live, and where people feel connected to each other and their community."

Fiorito: Merry Xmas, and get the hell out

If you knew a woman who lived alone and had a lingering illness, and if you had known about her illness for a long time but done nothing, and if it finally dawned on you that the woman needed help, would you break her arm in order to get her an ambulance?

That is, in effect, what the Toronto Community Housing Corporation is doing to my friend Anne. She lives at 40 Asquith. No, TCHC did not break her arm; they did, however, send her a letter telling her that her tenancy will end on Dec. 25.

Get the hell out.

And have a Merry Christmas.

I talked with Anne the other day; and when I say we talked, I mean I wrote questions and she wrote answers. Anne is deaf.

She is also 86 years old, and she has been deaf since she was in her teens. She is tiny and sweet and fierce, and she retains the posture of a ballet student, but — brace yourself for some jargon — she has clutter issues.

Her apartment is hip-deep in stuff: odds and ends of books, magazines, toys, games, dolls piled here and scattered there. She apparently has bedbugs, although I could see no sign that she herself is being bitten.

Ford plans to sell social housing stock to close budget deficit

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is keen to sell more than 900 units of social housing stock to the highest bidder and use some of the millions it generates to plug the $774-million hole in the city’s budget for next year.

The plan to put social housing units up for sale is the brainchild of the mayor’s hand-picked adviser, a former city councillor brought in to clean house after a spending scandal at Toronto Community Housing Corp.

Case Ootes, who is set to leave his post next week, made public Thursday some of the advice he is delivering to the mayor and the new board of the social housing agency – replacements for the previous board ousted by city council this spring. Mr. Ootes estimates the selloff of all the agency’s single-family homes could raise more than $400-million.

That’s money, he argues, that is desperately needed to solve a “crisis situation” created by a $650-million repair backlog that is so severe it is forcing the country’s largest landlord to leave units empty because there is no money to fix them. This, at a time when 77,000 households are on its waiting lists.
Toronto’s mayor was quick to give his public backing to that proposal, but indicated he has other ideas about what could be done with the dollars it generates.

“I agree. Let’s sell these homes. Let’s take that revenue,” he said. “Obviously, we need the money to fund next year’s budget.”

Asked about the crumbling state of city-owned housing, Mr. Ford said a portion of the profit could be directed to repairs. “Some could go to housing. Some could go to next year’s budget. It all depends. We would have to see.”

The mayor’s comments – and Mr. Ootes’ proposal – set the stage for a showdown between the city’s popular leader and critics who have long feared he is intent on dismantling the affordable-housing provider. Mr. Ford came to power with a pledge to cut costs by eliminating waste and the troubled housing agency – the subject of damning audits that discovered questionable spending by staff, including a spa day, a jaunt to Muskoka and gifts of chocolates – has become a convenient symbol of that excess.

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Source: Glob & Mail 

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