Don't cannibalize TO's affordable housing stock

Nov 19th, 2007 by Michael Shapcott

Toronto City Council will consider a plan to sell about 500  
“scattered” affordable homes that are owned by the city on November  
20, 2007. The sponsors of the scheme say that that some of the  
millions of dollars that would be generated from the sale could be  
used to re-house the 500 households, and the rest could be put into a  
repair fund to help deal with the estimated $300 million repair  
backlog at Toronto Community Housing Company. The problems that  
Toronto is facing in keeping up with a huge maintenance bill for the  
90,000 social housing units that it either owns or administers are an  
inherited mess. When the federal government downloaded most social  
housing programs starting in 1996, and the provincial government  
followed suit in 1998, they dumped the responsibility for these homes  
on Toronto without giving the city the financial resources to pay for  
years of wear and tear.
Municipalities across North America are facing huge problems due to  
years of funding cuts and downloading by senior levels of government.  
Some have been forced to adopt a strategy similar to that proposed by  
Toronto: Cannibalize the existing stock to cover the unfunded  
liability. At a time when the need for truly affordable housing is  
growing, the Toronto scheme – like others elsewhere – would lead to  
fewer homes.
Here are four reasons why cannibalizing existing affordable housing  
is a bad idea:
First, Toronto desperately needs every affordable home that it can  
get. The city’s waiting list for affordable housing is growing  
longer, and fewer people are being housed. Only about one in every  
100 new homes built in Toronto in the past five years has been truly  
affordable. For more details, see the quick facts below.
Second, the 500 homes that some councilors want to sell are scattered  
in neighbourhoods throughout the city. Mixed-income neighbourhoods –  
like the St. Lawrence community – are dynamic and healthy.  
Segregating the poor in some neighbourhoods, and reserving the rest  
of the city for wealthier households is a bad idea.
Third, conversion of part of the Toronto Community Housing Company’s  
portfolio has been tried in the past, and has been successful when  
the homes are converted to co-op or non-profit management. The Sonny  
Atkinson Co-op (formerly Alexandra Park) is a recent example of a  
successful conversion. Selling off affordable homes to the private  
sector means that the asset is lost forever to the city. Buildings  
and land are scarce commodities in Toronto and appear bound to  
increase in cost. Selling off a long-term asset for short-term gain  
doesn’t make sense.
Fourth, there is an urgent need for larger-size affordable homes.  
Low, moderate and even middle-income families are having extreme  
difficulty finding a good place to call home. Canada Mortgage and  
Housing Corporation reports that three-bedroom and larger apartments  
have a low vacancy rate and the highest rents in Toronto. The homes  
that councilors want to sell are ideal for larger families.
Quick facts:
Only about one in every 100 new homes built in Toronto in the past  
five years have been truly affordable – that’s slightly more than  
2,000 new affordable, supportive, transitional or alternative homes  
out of almost 200,000 new homes built since 2001.
The number of Toronto households in core housing need has grown from  
176,300 in 1991 to 269,700 in 1996 to 295,500 in 2001. These are  
households living in homes that are unaffordable, inadequate and/or  
unsuitable. This number is expected to increase when the 2006 census  
numbers are released in the spring of 2008.
In 2005, 403,000 households were living below the poverty line in  
Toronto – slightly more than one in every five families. The average  
low income gap was $9,600 annually.
The number of Toronto tenant households facing eviction reached an  
all-time high of 30,768 in 2006 – that’s an average of about 123  
families facing eviction every working day of the year. About one- 
third of households evicted in Toronto go directly to homeless  
shelters; another one-third join the ranks of the “hidden homeless”  
by staying temporarily with family or friends; and the remaining  
third are able to find another home.
Toronto’s affordable housing waiting list is growing ever longer.  
There were 63,791 households on the list in 2004; 66,556 in 2005 and  
67,083 households in 2006. As the list grows longer, the number of  
households that are housed annually is shrinking from 5,386 in 2004  
to 4,871 in 2006. If the city maintains the same pace in coming  
years, then a family that signs onto the list in 2007 cannot expect  
to be offered a home until the year 2021.
The city’s homeless shelters are crowded: Hostels had 1,403,881 bed- 
nights in 2005, up from 1,363,593 in 1998. The number of families in  
city shelters, after falling to 700 people in 2005, has increased by  
almost 25% in the past year.

http://wellesleyinstitute.com/dont-cannibalize-tos-affordable-housing- 
stock

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