[homeles_ot-l] News from TO -city adopts housing plan! Next step - inclusionary housing plan FW: WI backgrounder

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . .  Toronto leaps forward to end homelessness with a 10 year
affordable housing plan; Council has directed staff to review targets to
better respond to real need, but for now "Specific targets in the HOT plan
include 10,700 new supportive homes for people with special needs; rent
supplements for 70,000 households; repairs to 120,000 households; new
affordable homes for 10,000 households; and support for 47,000 owner
households".

 

Note: to give you a sense of what Toronto's current targets would mean
applied to Ottawa, the 2006 population ratio for Toronto and Ottawa is 3 to
1 (Ottawa - 812,129 & Toronto - 2,503,281).

  

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

613-241-7913, ext. 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> 

  _____  

From: nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org [mailto:nhhn-can-owner at povnet.org] On Behalf
Of Michael Shapcott
Sent: August 5, 2009 5:54 PM
To: nhhn-can at povnet.org; hhno-on at povnet.org
Subject: [nhhn-can] WI backgrounder: TO adopts housing plan! Next step -
inclusionary housing plan to require affordable homes in new developments

 

Toronto City Council caught up with hundreds of other Canadian and US cities
earlier today and adopted a 10-year affordable housing plan called Housing
Opportunities <http://www.toronto.ca/affordablehousing/hot.htm>  Toronto.
Overall, the plan is projected to cost $483.7 million and is expected to
provide practical support to 257,700 households. The Wellesley Institute
launched our Blueprint to End Homelessness
<http://wellesleyinstitute.com/theblueprint>  in 2006, and we have worked
with our partners to encourage the City of Toronto to adopt a housing plan.
More than 300 US cities have housing
<http://www.usich.gov/slocal/10-year-plan-communities.pdf>  plans, plus a
growing number of Canadian cities (including Calgary
<http://www.calgaryhomeless.com/main/page.php?page_id=1> ).  An important
feature of the Toronto HOT plan is a Charter that promises: "All residents
should have a safe, secure, affordable and well-maintained home from which
to realize their full potential." Adopting a rights-based approach to
housing is an important step forward for Toronto City Council. 

Mayor David Miller thanked Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, chair of the
Affordable Housing Committee of Toronto City Council as the plan was passed.
The new HOT plan had near-unanimous support, with only Councillors Rob Ford
and Case Ootes voting against affordable homes for Torontonians.

One practical measure that Toronto can take right away to increase the
supply of affordable homes is a comprehensive inclusionary housing policy.
Last year, the Wellesley Institute co-sponsored an international
<http://wellesleyinstitute.com/planning-inclusive-neighbourhoods-WIforum>
forum in Toronto on inclusionary housing practices that are widely used
thorughout the United States. We are continuing to work, with our community
partners, at the local and provincial levels to require that all new
developments include a fair share of affordable housing. 

At the national level, most developed countries (including Britain,
Australia and most recently, the Obama administration in the US
<http://www.ich.gov/> ) have national housing plans, but Canada's federal
government doesn't have a comprehensive, co-ordinated and fully funded
national housing plan. At the provincial level, a number of provinces (most
recently, Alberta
<http://www.housing.alberta.ca/documents/PlanForAB_Secretariat_final.pdf> )
have their own housing plans, but Ontario is still in the midst of
consultations <http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page6395.aspx>  to develop a
provincial strategy. The Wellesley Institute is working with our partners in
the Housing Network of <http://stableandaffordable.com/>  Ontario to ensure
that the provincial plan is built from the community up. 

When Toronto's draft HOT plan was being considered by the City's Affordable
Housing Committee, the Wellesley Institute welcomed
<http://wellesleyinstitute.com/housing-opportunities-toronto-road-map-shows-
long-slow-uphill-journey>  the initiative, but called for city councillors
to review the targets. Overall, the city's current targets fall well short
of any realistic estimate of the affordable housing needs of the hundreds of
thousands of Torontonians who are precariously housed. Members of the
Affordable Housing Committee adopted the Wellesley Institute's concerns and
called for staff to review the targets in light of a deep and persistent
affordable housing crisis in Toronto. Specific targets in the HOT plan
include 10,700 new supportive homes for people with special needs; rent
supplements for 70,000 households; repairs to 120,000 households; new
affordable homes for 10,000 households; and support for 47,000 owner
households.

-          Michael 

 

***

 

Michael Shapcott | Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation |
Wellesley Institute 

45 Charles St E, Suite 101                    Tel: 416.972.1010 ext 231
Toronto, ON, Canada,  M4Y 1S2           Mobile: 416.605.8316  
E-mail:   michael at wellesleyinstitute.com

 

www.wellesleyinstitute.com

rigorous research. pragmatic policy solutions. social innovation. community
action.

 

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