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SUBSIDIZED HOUSING
Agency defends expensive homes
JEFF GRAY
November 16, 2007
Saying its tenants shouldn't be pushed out by skyrocketing property prices, Toronto Community Housing Corp. responded to questions yesterday from two city councillors about the subsidized housing agency's ownership of three homes in one of Toronto's more desirable neighbourhoods.
The agency said it had already started its own review of its real estate holdings a few months ago. But in a strongly worded statement, the TCHC also insisted that the single-family homes, mostly with tenants who pay rents that rise with their income, serve a valid purpose.
"Our tenants have a right to live in all neighbourhoods of the city, and Toronto Community Housing does not believe that high property values fuelled by speculation and gentrification should mean our tenants are displaced to low-income neighbourhoods," the statement reads. "A healthy city is an inclusive one."
Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth) plans to ask city council next week to order housing officials to examine the benefits of selling three houses it owns on Ellerbeck Street in Playter Estates, near Broadview and Danforth Avenues, and moving the tenants elsewhere. All three homes have been assessed at around $500,000, but are likely worth more than that, located as they are in one of the city's hottest real estate markets.
"It seems to me it's not a very effective way of spending our very limited social housing money," Mr. Ootes said in an interview.
Mr. Ootes and Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) - both critics of Mayor David Miller - also want the cash-strapped housing authority to look into selling the approximately 500 single-family homes it owns across the city, and possibly using the proceeds to fix the agency's many crumbling high-rises or to provide rent subsidies to house families in cheaper apartments.
Toronto Community Housing spokeswoman Kristin Jenkins said the agency had already, at the request of its board, started a comprehensive review of all of its real estate. She added that the agency is prohibited by provincial law from reducing the number, or the size, of its affordable housing stock, meaning it would have to replace whatever properties were sold.
Some of the single-family homes, including those on Ellerbeck, were acquired by Toronto Community Housing's predecessors, Ms. Jenkins said, as part of a program aimed at integrating public-housing tenants into the community.
Others were acquired by the city or the province, often by expropriation for other purposes, and then declared surplus and handed over for affordable housing.
Mr. Ootes said he had no quarrel with the idea of integrating public housing tenants into the community at large, which is the philosophy behind the current project to revitalize Regent Park.
"I'm all for not creating ghettos," Mr. Ootes said. But he argued that this goal could be achieved using more economical apartments.
Nancy Usalcas, 43, a single mother on social assistance who lives in one of the houses on Ellerbeck, said she believes neighbourhoods where rich and poor live together are good for the city. And she said she was upset that Mr. Ootes would suggest that her home should be sold without telling residents first.
The mother of two teenagers said she spoke to him in front of her home yesterday, as a local TV crew looked on.
"It's funny how he could just dismiss me like that," she said. "Because I am not a millionaire, I shouldn't be allowed to live in the neighbourhood and my kids shouldn't be allowed to go to a good school? What the heck is that?"
Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's) accused Mr. Ootes of targeting the poor by singling out addresses in his ward. "He's basically put up a big sign saying 'Poorer people in our community, not welcome here,' " Mr. Mihevc said.
Louroz
Agency defends expensive homes
JEFF GRAY
November 16, 2007
Saying its tenants shouldn't be pushed out by skyrocketing property prices, Toronto Community Housing Corp. responded to questions yesterday from two city councillors about the subsidized housing agency's ownership of three homes in one of Toronto's more desirable neighbourhoods.
The agency said it had already started its own review of its real estate holdings a few months ago. But in a strongly worded statement, the TCHC also insisted that the single-family homes, mostly with tenants who pay rents that rise with their income, serve a valid purpose.
"Our tenants have a right to live in all neighbourhoods of the city, and Toronto Community Housing does not believe that high property values fuelled by speculation and gentrification should mean our tenants are displaced to low-income neighbourhoods," the statement reads. "A healthy city is an inclusive one."
Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth) plans to ask city council next week to order housing officials to examine the benefits of selling three houses it owns on Ellerbeck Street in Playter Estates, near Broadview and Danforth Avenues, and moving the tenants elsewhere. All three homes have been assessed at around $500,000, but are likely worth more than that, located as they are in one of the city's hottest real estate markets.
"It seems to me it's not a very effective way of spending our very limited social housing money," Mr. Ootes said in an interview.
Mr. Ootes and Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East) - both critics of Mayor David Miller - also want the cash-strapped housing authority to look into selling the approximately 500 single-family homes it owns across the city, and possibly using the proceeds to fix the agency's many crumbling high-rises or to provide rent subsidies to house families in cheaper apartments.
Toronto Community Housing spokeswoman Kristin Jenkins said the agency had already, at the request of its board, started a comprehensive review of all of its real estate. She added that the agency is prohibited by provincial law from reducing the number, or the size, of its affordable housing stock, meaning it would have to replace whatever properties were sold.
Some of the single-family homes, including those on Ellerbeck, were acquired by Toronto Community Housing's predecessors, Ms. Jenkins said, as part of a program aimed at integrating public-housing tenants into the community.
Others were acquired by the city or the province, often by expropriation for other purposes, and then declared surplus and handed over for affordable housing.
Mr. Ootes said he had no quarrel with the idea of integrating public housing tenants into the community at large, which is the philosophy behind the current project to revitalize Regent Park.
"I'm all for not creating ghettos," Mr. Ootes said. But he argued that this goal could be achieved using more economical apartments.
Nancy Usalcas, 43, a single mother on social assistance who lives in one of the houses on Ellerbeck, said she believes neighbourhoods where rich and poor live together are good for the city. And she said she was upset that Mr. Ootes would suggest that her home should be sold without telling residents first.
The mother of two teenagers said she spoke to him in front of her home yesterday, as a local TV crew looked on.
"It's funny how he could just dismiss me like that," she said. "Because I am not a millionaire, I shouldn't be allowed to live in the neighbourhood and my kids shouldn't be allowed to go to a good school? What the heck is that?"
Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's) accused Mr. Ootes of targeting the poor by singling out addresses in his ward. "He's basically put up a big sign saying 'Poorer people in our community, not welcome here,' " Mr. Mihevc said.
Louroz
