Toronto council falling behind on election pledges to reduce poverty, report finds

Thestar.com
February 28, 2019
Jennifer Pagliaro

Bee Lee Soh often walks up to two hours to get where she’s going in this city.

It’s a choice she’s forced to make most days -- whether or not to save hard-to-come-by TTC tokens -- as she struggles to pay rent for “shabby” housing in Scarborough.

Lee Soh, 57, said she was not surprised to hear that the city’s 2019 budget leaves council at risk of falling well behind on election promises to reduce poverty across Toronto this term, as a new report concludes.

“I’m paying attention to the budget,” she said in an interview. She’s been involved in several advisory bodies advocating for those living with low income. “Every year the city budget is always like this.”

For her and those like her for whom even a discounted transit fare -- increasing in this budget by 5 cents -- is a luxury they frequently can’t afford, this budget doesn’t do enough, she said.

“I walk as much as I can . . . There’s no way for us to really get around.”

At the current rate of funding, plans to build new affordable housing, create child-care and recreation spaces, and reduce TTC fares won’t be realized in the next four years and in some cases even in the next decade, according to the new report from the non-profit advocacy group Social Planning Toronto.

“The 2019 city budget offers the first opportunity for Toronto city council to begin to make good on its election promises to act on poverty during the current term of council,” the report reads. “This report assesses their progress to date, and the news isn’t good.”

The budget has yet to be finalized, which the report authors say leaves open the opportunity for council to make good on these plans.

During the 2018 election, a coalition of groups fighting for action on poverty -- Social Planning Toronto, Commitment to Community and Faith in the City -- asked candidates to sign a pledge to fully fund and implement seven initiatives in the new term. Several of the pledges are specific actions that have been previously approved by council.

Those promises include building 7,200 new supportive housing units, creating 1,000 new shelter beds, reducing TTC fares for 157,000 low-income adults and creating 11,500 new child-care spaces, including 5,000 more affordable spaces through subsidies.

But based on Social Planning’s analysis of the 2019 budget as currently tabled, council will fail to deliver on six of seven actions by 2022, the report says.

The new report says 19 of the 26 elected council members signed the non-binding pledge, including Mayor John Tory (Councillors Michael Ford, Stephen Holyday, Mark Grimes, John Filion, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Jim Karygiannis and Michael Thompson did not sign the pledge).

The report acknowledged that council has made progress after first approving a poverty reduction strategy in 2015, including providing free transit for children 12 and under, and expanding student nutrition programs.

“Despite these initiatives, the city’s affordability crisis persists, requiring bold action now and over the next four years of this term of council, in alignment with the Prosperity Pledge, to tackle these challenges and increase affordability, particularly for those living in poverty,” the report says, citing recent research that one in five adult residents and one in four children live in poverty.

Here is how the pledges are being funded in this budget:

• Create 7,200 new supportive housing units: Through funding from multiple levels of government and with help from community partners, there will be 787 new supportive units or households newly receiving support in 2019, according to city budget documents cited in the Social Planning report. By 2022, that total will grow to 1,278 new units. Using the three-year average, the report shows if this pace is maintained the goal will be achieved in just under 17 years.

• Create at least 8,000 “deeply” affordable housing units: The report looked at units that will have rents set at or below 30 per cent of a household’s income -- what Social Planning defined as “deeply” affordable. It found 1,000 housing allowances funded by senior levels of government would come online in 2019 to achieve those lower rents, as well as 100 new allowances from the city for low-income households in existing buildings. The Social Planning report also calculated about that 44 of the 434 new affordable rental units expected to be built in 2019 will be “deeply” affordable, based on discussions with city staff, bringing the total of new deeply affordable units available in 2019 to 1,144. Also accounting for future promises of affordable housing approved on 11 city-owned sites and calculating how many might be deeply affordable, the report estimates, using a three-year average, that this pledge will be achieved in 14.1 years.

• Reduce TTC fares for 157,000 lower income adults: Council approved a new Fair Pass fare program in 2016, phased in over three years. But as the Star has previously reported, only half of the year two funding is included in the 2019 budget. Staff have attributed this to “logistical difficulties” expanding the program to other groups who receiving housing allowances, and as the Social Planning report notes, staff still plan to meet this council commitment by 2020. But using the current pace of budget funding, the report says, it would take 6.8 years to achieve this pledge.

• Create 11,500 new child-care spaces, including 5,000 subsidized spaces: City staff confirmed to the report authors that 2,817 new child-care spaces are currently under construction with 2,035 spaces expected to be introduced in 2019. The rest are expected to be completed between 2020 and 2024, staff told the authors. There will be 210 new subsidies for families with low incomes created by the 2019 budget with a total 760 expected during this term. At that pace, the child-care spaces pledge will be realized in 24.5 years and the new subsidies pledge will be fulfilled in 26.3 years.

• Create 40,000 new recreation spaces: After council created 20,000 new spaces for programs like swimming and skating in city-run centres in the 2018 budget as part of a three-year plan to introduce a total 60,000 new spaces, the 2019 budget fails to keep pace. A total 7,500 new spaces will be approved in 2019 and the plan will be stretched over five years. Staff have reported they intend to meet the target in 2022, increasing the number of spaces approved in future years, but the current funding pace would see this pledge completed 5.3 years from now.

• The report notes a seventh pledge, to build 1,000 new shelter beds, will be completed in 2020, based on staff plans, but notes it won’t be enough.

“That will be an important accomplishment. However, the reality is that all of those beds are needed right now,” the report says, noting the number of people currently relying on emergency drop-ins and respite centres.

At last count, on Feb. 24, the city’s emergency drop-ins and respites recorded 1,002 people on site. These locations may offer mats or chairs for clients to sleep on, but many sleep on the floor and not on real cots or beds.

“Further, without increased investment in affordable and supportive housing, the homelessness crisis will continue to grow, putting more pressure on the city to respond through the further addition of shelters.”

In the end, the report authors say the lack of funding for poverty reduction initiatives is a choice.

“Rather than fully funding council-approved strategies and plans, the budget reveals the real priorities of Council -- low property taxes that especially benefit the affluent, no new revenue tools (i.e. taxes from other sources), and expensive capital projects that don’t deliver on the critical needs of Toronto residents,” the report reads. “The current budget is designed to serve the most affluent Torontonians at the expense of everyone else, especially the poorest residents of our city.”

Lee Soh has heard councillors and Tory talk about not having enough money this year. She isn’t buying it.

“They can find a way to get money because a lot of revenue they can touch but they don’t want to touch,” she said.

Council meets March 7 to finalize the budget.