Building 1,800 supportive housing units a year would end chronic homelessness in Toronto, report says. The city only has funding for half

Thestar.com
February 6, 2020
Jennifer Pagliaro

The city is already behind on its promise to build 1,800 new supportive housing units this year and needs significant new investment from other levels of government to meet its 10-year target, a city staff report says.

Though council just set the new target of creating 18,000 units over the next 10 years this past December -- spaces that are meant for people experiencing homelessness where the rent is subsidized and they are provided with needed social and other supports -- only 600 new units are currently funded in the city’s existing budget.

A new report headed to the city’s planning and housing committee on Feb. 12 asks council to call on the federal and provincial governments to invest more to meet the annual goal.

Meeting the target could have a life-changing impact, the report explains.

If the city could create 1,800 new units every year for the next three years, there would be enough homes for everyone currently experiencing chronic homelessness in the city, staff reported.

“Achieving the ongoing target of 1,800 units per year after those initial three years would functionally end chronic homelessness in Toronto,” the report says.

A tent is set up near Cherry Street with Toronto skyline in the rear in January 2020. The city is already behind on its promise to build 1,800 new supportive housing units this year and needs significant new investment from other levels of government to meet its 10-year target.

Currently, more than 5,000 people in Toronto -- or about 23 per cent of those using the shelter system -- to meet the federal definition of being chronically homeless for six months or more. Those people often face more “complex challenges” related to mental health, addictions and other issues, staff said, which can be addressed with targeted supports.

Getting there is possible, but requires more investment from the other levels of government, city staff and a councillor pushing for a plan to create supportive housing say.

Coun. Joe Cressy (Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York) said it has been a struggle to get to this point, but if council endorses the plan outlined by staff in the report it would be a “big step forward.”

“Homelessness will always exist, sadly, but what we can do as a city is ensure that when you are homeless it is rare, it is brief and it is not reoccurring,” he said.

Cressy said the city would be doing its part and the other governments need to step up. He said for him, there is a “moral obligation” to do something, but for those who disagree there is also a financial incentive.

It costs far less to operate the average supportive housing unit at $63 per day compared to the average shelter bed at $110 per day, the staff report outlines.

Mayor John Tory, in a statement, called the report a “road map” and “exactly the type of innovative thinking that I have been encouraging our staff to undertake.”

Tory noted he is currently in Ottawa meeting with officials to ask them, among other things, to fund more supportive housing.

“Our Housing Action Plan is predicated, as it must be, on a three-government funding partnership to get supportive housing built and staffed. There is no other way,” he said.

The report proposes several ways to create up to 600 new units using existing funding and resources, including through a pilot to convert an existing shelter for longer-term use as supportive housing, and renovating 100 Toronto Community Housing units that are currently vacant and require repairs to be habitable.

Supportive housing has traditionally been a provincial responsibility, the report notes, with the city acting essentially as a “service manager” -- referring people to appropriate housing and supports.

Since 2017, the city has been receiving $25 million annually from to province to operate supportive units and received $36.5 million over three years for capital projects.

“However, there is no commitment to provide ongoing funding for new capital development of supportive housing,” the report says.

The federal government has provided $23.5 million annually since 2019 from the Reaching Home program, which will increase by $3.5 million in 2021. That, however, will not be nearly enough to meet the government’s stated goal of reducing chronic homelessness by half over a decade, city staff say, or meet the city’s target.

The operating costs for another 600 units -- to make the units affordable and provide services -- would be $13.9 million annually, the report says. Capital costs to create 600 units is estimated between $160 million and $213 million.

The city estimates total ongoing operating costs for all 18,000 units, considering inflation over 10 years, to be $543.7 million annually. The total cost to build is between $4.8 billion and $6.4 billion, the report says.

Kira Heineck, executive lead of the Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness, said focusing on housing solutions to solve chronic homelessness is “critical” and the city’s current goal is good based on the data available, including that 17,500 people are currently on the waiting list for supportive housing.

“It’s a big step forward from anything the city has committed to before to say that they’re going to do 600 (units) a year on their own,” she said, adding that is “a new level of leadership from which to call on the province and the feds to do more.”

A provincial Ministry of Health spokesperson said Wednesday they recognize the “important role supportive housing plays in addressing the needs of those with mental health and addictions who are homeless or at risk of homelessness” and the province continues to make investments to that effect.

He said the government pledged $15 million last year for supportive housing-related investments. It’s not clear how much of that money is for Toronto.

Officials in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.