John Tory's "efficiencies" in action.
More crumbling TCHC units to close amid budget pressures: CEO
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Hey at least Mayor Tory did make that announcement last September. That's the important part.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...units-to-close-amid-budget-pressures-ceo.html
Successive mayors have promised action on TCHC and by and large, failed to deliver.
To Miller's credit he got the ball rolling on some of the larger community revitalizations like Regent Park, but much of the housing stock continued to slide backwards, even during his term.
The reality for any Mayor (and council) is that some form of additional revenue is required to maintain and finance existing (and/or new) TCHC housing.
That revenue, in part, may be transfers from other levels of government, but there is no expectation of a windfall in that area.
It may be municipal taxes; but that means tolls and/or well above inflation property tax hikes, neither of which any council has shown a willingness to endorse.
One of the more logical is to raise floor rent levels in TCHC housing.
Before I get pounced on; the current entry rate, for someone on OW is often as low as $210 per month, because that's 30% of gross income.
The problem with that, is that the province allocates $415 for shelter (a ridiculously low amount that only public housing can fulfill, but I digress).
That means roughly up to $205 is being left on the table in some cases..........money that would flow from Queen's Park, not the low income tenant.
I see no reason for the City to do Queen's Park favours here.
Charge the maximum allowed in that scenario.
Few, if any, low income earners would earn less.
Where that rare case exists, the City could waive the normal minimum rent.
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One of the reasons that we have so little new rental construction in this city (notwithstanding the recent uptick) is that shelter allowances are so low (and minimum wage) that the private sector can't possibly meet any demand for rental housing at the low end of the spectrum.
I happen to favour raising both min. wage and shelter allowance (over a few years) so that the amount for shelter is at least close to low-end, fair market value.
By doing that, you don't force people to move into public housing, or incur moving costs, if they were already in an affordable apartment.
You also have a lot more money to maintain public housing; and you have an incentive for landlords to build new to serve the upper-middle and middle income rental markets and use older stock to target those with lower-income situations.
That, at least to me, would seem sensible.
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In the interim, I think TCHC should aggressively pursue community revitalization, similar to Regent Park, where the private sector can pick up a large portion of the tab, in exchange for some high-value land, while also creating a mixed-income community in the process.
That will be hard at some of the Suburban properties, but a plan for Moss Park and the areas of TCHC to east, when combined, should offer some good opportunities, as should the sites they own just west of the Beach neighbourhood by Queen/Coxwell.
