Mayor John Tory papers Queen’s Park with concerns over crumbling social housing
In 650 words sent to the premier and a personalized letter for each of Toronto’s MPPs, Tory outlined a crisis for Toronto Community Housing that has not abated with $1.73-billion of repairs still unfunded and no cash commitment from the province.

thestar.com
By JENNIFER PAGLIARO
June 5, 2017

A war of words between Mayor John Tory and Premier Kathleen Wynne over the responsibility for repairing social housing has escalated in the form of a letter-writing campaign.

In 650 words sent to the premier and a personalized letter for each of Toronto’s MPPs, Tory outlined a crisis for Toronto Community Housing that has not abated with $1.73-billion of repairs still unfunded and no cash commitment from the provincial government.

“This is an urgent situation - units are already slated for closure. Without immediate support, we expect that 400 units will be at risk of closing this year and 600 units will be at risk of closing in 2018,” reads the letter to Wynne signed by Tory and sent Friday afternoon. “That’s 1,900 of our most vulnerable residents at risk of losing their homes in two years. The decline will be rapid and it will impact all of Toronto.”

Speaking to reporters Monday, Tory said he believes Wynne is aware of the moral imperative to fix the crumbling homes that provide shelter to seniors, those with disabilities and other vulnerable residents.

“I know in her heart the premier wants to do something, because she cares very much about a lot of these people. She has some of these units in her own riding,” he said.

Tory wrote the letters after a motion drafted by his office pushed through council by housing advocate Councillor Ana Bailao and Toronto Community Housing Corp. board member Councillor Joe Cressy was approved at a meeting at the end of May.

Each letter outlines the number of units headed toward a “critical” state of disrepair in the next five years, following a Star story detailing that never-before-published data from Toronto Community Housing.

In Wynne’s Don Valley West riding, for example, Tory wrote that “a total of 128 units are expected to close while 425 units will be at risk of closing within the next five years.”

Housing Minister Chris Ballard received his own personalized letter and was copied on all of the other 21 letters sent to his Liberal colleagues and two NDP MPPs.

“As the Minister of Housing, I believe it is incumbent on you to advocate for housing needs in Ontario and ensure that these homes are maintained for our most vulnerable residents,” Tory’s letter to Ballard reads. “I hope that you find this information helpful and I once again urge you to reconsider your government’s lack of participation in financing a fair share of these essential repairs.”

Tory has been singling out MPPs since a pointed press conference in May and calling on the province to return to the table after years of passing the responsibility for social housing to the city.

In response to those demands, Ballard has repeatedly insisted the province is investing in housing, but citing funding for affordable housing generally - that has very little impact on the massive Toronto Community Housing repairs bill.

The city is receiving $130 million for social housing energy retrofits from the province over three years. But the province has not committed to the repairs plan, of which they were requested to pay one third of the bill, or $864 million.

Toronto Community Housing runs out of money for repairs at the end of this year. More than half of their housing stock will reach critical condition in five years and risks being boarded up.

At the same time, the waiting list for subsidized housing continues to grow. There are now more than 181,000 people on the list.