The Housing Network of Ontario calls on all political parties to build the foundation of Ontario’s future through investments in affordable housing
On October 6th, Ontarians will head to the polls to vote for their members of provincial parliament. The political parties must keep in mind:
- There are 1,301,395 tenant households in Ontario and 125,000 residents living in housing co-ops; accounting for almost one-third of our province’s population.
- Over 13 percent of households live in poverty in Ontario, and is double that rate, or higher, if you are among one of the historically disadvantaged groups in Ontario (Aboriginal Peoples, peoples of colour, people with disabilities and mental health issues, lone mothers as well as newcomers). 627,530 of these households are unable to afford shelter that meets adequacy, suitability, and affordability norms, placing them in core housing need. Most but not all of these are tenants.
- Thousands more stay in homeless shelters across Ontario; for instance, in 2010, 22,276 people in Toronto, 7,156 people in Ottawa and 2,859 people in Waterloo Region had to stay in homeless shelters.
And yet, the housing concerns of these Ontarians are rarely addressed by government, and are almost never one of the issues discussed during the election campaign.
The construction of new housing that low-income people can afford and the renovation of existing housing would strengthen the economy and create jobs. Ongoing, core funding for affordable housing and support programs would result in more equitably accessible employment opportunities for Ontarians over the long term. More housing that is affordable for our growing workforce would help Ontario’s economy. The strengthening of the economy would in turn, provide the means for further investments in affordable housing.
All three parties supported the Poverty Reduction Act, and committed themselves to cutting child and family poverty by 25% by 2013. Without secure housing, the ability of Ontarians to get and hold jobs, maintain their household, and look after their family’s health is jeopardized.
Consultations across the province have shown strong support for investment and action to address the challenges of homelessness, high housing costs and housing insecurity.
Now is the time to act.
The Housing Network of Ontario calls on each political party to include a commitment to the following five policy goals in their platforms:
1. Bold targets & sustained funding
Ontario must ensure an adequate supply of liveable, affordable housing, supported by multi year financial commitments. Each party should commit to:
- Funding a housing program that creates a minimum of 10,000 universally accessible affordable non-profit and co-op developed housing units annually.
- Provide funding so that at least 50% of these units can provide “rent geared to income” assistance.
- Create an annualized fund to repair & maintain existing and new affordable housing units.
- Make government land available for affordable housing. Create innovative financing options and enhance existing loan funds for developers of affordable housing.
- Strengthen the development and technical capacity of the affordable housing sector.
- Work with other levels of government to secure funding for housing programs
2. Make housing truly affordable and equitably accessible
Ontarians of all income levels should be able to access housing they can afford, and supports should be provided to ensure equitable and thriving inclusive communities.
- Introduce a monthly Universal Housing Benefit for low income Ontarians to close the gap between low incomes and high housing costs.
- Expand the priority list for social housing to include equity seeking community members: Aboriginal People, communities of colour, people with disabilities and mental health issues, lone mothers, youth and others facing discrimination by landlords.
- Fund retrofits to ensure older units are accessible for people with disabilities, and design new affordable units to ensure accommodation for diverse household size and universal accessibility.
- Provide funding for at least 2,000 new supportive housing units annually which offer culturally appropriate, and recovery oriented, services to support people with disabilities, mental health issues and addictions to maintain their housing.
- Fund an energy affordability program that provides ongoing financial assistance to low-income Ontarians who cannot afford rising home energy costs.
- Introduce a tax credit to support low and modest income households to purchase affordable homes.
3. Reform housing legislation to build stronger communities
Key legislation that governs municipal planning, social housing and the private rental market must be reformed to promote growth in affordable housing, better protect the housing rights of tenants and provide flexibility for non-profit and co-operative housing providers.
- Improve fairness for social housing tenants by restricting punitive rent-geared-to-income rules and allowing tenants the right to an independent review of loss of subsidy decisions.
- Amend the Residential Tenancies Act to better protect tenants and ensure landlords cannot raise rents on vacant units beyond rent regulation guidelines.
-Amend the Planning Act to allow municipalities to introduce inclusionary housing policies to create new affordable housing and more universally diverse neighbourhoods and communities.
- Give cities the power to expropriate abandoned properties for affordable housing conversion.
4. Measurement
Effective policy requires a solid foundation of accurate evidence about the scale of housing insecurity and homelessness in Ontario and a clear way to measure progress. Housing measures must track progress on whether actions taken are:
- systematically reducing the number of households on the wait list for affordable housing in all regions of Ontario;
- addressing the housing affordability problem through consistent annual reductions in the percentage of Ontario tenants spending 30% or more of income on housing;
- improving access to suitable and adequate affordable housing for members of marginalized groups, including Aboriginal People people of colour, people with disabilities and mental health issues, lone mothers, youth and people living in rural and northern communities.
- consistently reducing the number of Ontario households in core housing need, the number of households facing eviction due to high rent costs, and the number of Ontarians in homeless shelters.
5. Accountability
Each party’s plan must remain accountable to the people it intends to serve. Accountability measures should include:
- Annual public reporting on progress.
- Committing to ongoing public consultation, that is equitably representative of people who have experienced housing insecurity, along with grassroots leaders, community-based agencies and experts, as the plan unfolds.
- Improved coordination of housing and related programs between Ministries to ensure the best possible outcomes for Ontarians in housing need.
- Appointing a full-time Minister of Housing to ensure affordable housing is a government priority.
