Jarrek
Active Member
No room for poor, renters in Peel
Roughly 55,000 people live in poverty in and around Brampton, while vacancy rates are only 2.6 per cent.
Dec 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Michele Henry
Staff Reporter
Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell chuckled out loud at a recent city council meeting about Calgary's plan to pay residents a whopping $25,000 subsidy to build basement apartments in their homes.
Banging her gavel, Fennell boasted that her municipality doesn't need basement apartments to accommodate its bulging population, expected to grow from 330,000 to more than 750,000 by 2031.
"Brampton is far ahead in growth management," Fennell said. "We're not going to pay you to put in a basement apartment. We'll fine you $25,000 if you put one in."
Cheap below-ground accommodations may not fit Fennell's vision of Brampton – nor the vision set for the rest of Peel, where stiff zoning bylaws have effectively prohibited creating any new rental units in single-family homes since 1996.
But with a 21-year waiting list for social housing, sky-high development fees and housing prices rising, tenant advocates say they could be one way to tackle the growing needs of a low-income population politicians seem inclined to ignore.
Roughly 55,000 people live in poverty in Brampton and surrounding areas, about 100,000 in Mississauga. An unofficial estimate five years ago tallied 30,000 people in Peel Region who get by "couch surfing" between the homes of friends.
Many more, because they can't find better arrangements, live as illegal tenants and end up deprived of tenant rights, advocates say.
Vacancy rates in Brampton are 2.6 per cent – almost a full percentage point below Toronto – and well below a healthy rate of 6 per cent, says Jennifer Ramsay, a co-ordinator with the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario. Low vacancy rates drive up housing costs.
Technically, it's the regional government's job to plan and build affordable housing, but progress at all levels of government has been slow.
A United Way report released last month highlighted Toronto's growing poverty rate and warned that a lack of social service supports in the GTA's 905 region will hit hard.
Brampton and Mississauga have no affordable housing plans, says Elaine Moore, a regional councillor from Brampton. Nor does Peel.
What good would plans be anyway, asks Keith Ward, Peel's commissioner of human services. "You can plan all you want, but if you don't have any money, forget it," he says. Of course, without a plan in place there's no hope of getting assistance from the federal or provincial governments.
There may be some hope of a turnaround with the recent decision at Peel Region Council to hold on to the full amount of a financial windfall coming from a phase-out of the hated "Toronto tax" – money the regions are forced to send Toronto to help with social services costs – and apply it to local social needs instead of, say, fixing roads or offering tax relief. The financial bonus to the region is $10 million this year, rising to nearly $61 million by 2013.
But in a region where owners far outnumber renters, finding the political will to do something about the plight of those who can't afford to buy will remain difficult.
Beth Walden, staff lawyer at Peel and Dufferin County Legal Services, believes banning basement units doesn't help. Not only are they cheaper to rent, they can help first-time buyers pay the mortgage.
"It's a way of allowing some struggling young families to afford their homes," she says. "There are landlords who could create affordable housing, but they don't because of the bylaw. Then there are others willing to flout the law."
That creates a host of different issues. Walden's clinic is bombarded with people cheated or evicted on a landlord's whim because they aren't covered under the Residential Tenancies Act.
The act doesn't provide for those who share a bathroom or kitchen with the landlord. While it does cover tenants in illegal apartments, the act doesn't do much but require a four-month eviction period.
Sean Gadon, director of Toronto's Affordable Housing Office, paints a different picture in Toronto, where the 50-50 ratio of renters to owners means having enough vacancies in acceptable housing is high on the political agenda.
Under the city's "housing first" policy, land has been made available, development fees waived, and capital incentives created to help non-profits and the private sector fund low-rent developments.
"Our approach in Toronto is that everybody should play a role," Gadon says.
Terry Edgar, executive director of Mississauga Community Legal Services, said there has been no significant affordable housing built in Mississauga since he started in 1979. While there's concern about homelessness as Toronto experiences it, there's been little response to the problem that already exists, he said.
John Corbett, Brampton's planning commissioner, says social housing is Peel Region's responsibility, though it may need to grapple with the province on funding.
With a hefty tax burden already loaded onto Brampton citizens, Corbett doesn't feel they should have to shoulder more to provide tax breaks for organizations looking to build "any further housing." Decreasing development fees or waiving property taxes as incentives to build affordable apartments just isn't in the cards, he said.
Keith Ward, Peel's human services commissioner, would like to see a formal program – perhaps even cash incentives like Calgary's – offered to create affordable basement apartments that meet safety codes.
A break on development fees would help: currently, they're nearly $30,000 on every Brampton dwelling – prohibitive to those who might build affordable homes.
Ward believes that instead of trying to shift responsibility, all the players, including cities, should get on with finding a solution.
"It's in everyone's interest to make sure we have places for everyone to live," he says.
Roughly 55,000 people live in poverty in and around Brampton, while vacancy rates are only 2.6 per cent.
Dec 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Michele Henry
Staff Reporter
Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell chuckled out loud at a recent city council meeting about Calgary's plan to pay residents a whopping $25,000 subsidy to build basement apartments in their homes.
Banging her gavel, Fennell boasted that her municipality doesn't need basement apartments to accommodate its bulging population, expected to grow from 330,000 to more than 750,000 by 2031.
"Brampton is far ahead in growth management," Fennell said. "We're not going to pay you to put in a basement apartment. We'll fine you $25,000 if you put one in."
Cheap below-ground accommodations may not fit Fennell's vision of Brampton – nor the vision set for the rest of Peel, where stiff zoning bylaws have effectively prohibited creating any new rental units in single-family homes since 1996.
But with a 21-year waiting list for social housing, sky-high development fees and housing prices rising, tenant advocates say they could be one way to tackle the growing needs of a low-income population politicians seem inclined to ignore.
Roughly 55,000 people live in poverty in Brampton and surrounding areas, about 100,000 in Mississauga. An unofficial estimate five years ago tallied 30,000 people in Peel Region who get by "couch surfing" between the homes of friends.
Many more, because they can't find better arrangements, live as illegal tenants and end up deprived of tenant rights, advocates say.
Vacancy rates in Brampton are 2.6 per cent – almost a full percentage point below Toronto – and well below a healthy rate of 6 per cent, says Jennifer Ramsay, a co-ordinator with the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario. Low vacancy rates drive up housing costs.
Technically, it's the regional government's job to plan and build affordable housing, but progress at all levels of government has been slow.
A United Way report released last month highlighted Toronto's growing poverty rate and warned that a lack of social service supports in the GTA's 905 region will hit hard.
Brampton and Mississauga have no affordable housing plans, says Elaine Moore, a regional councillor from Brampton. Nor does Peel.
What good would plans be anyway, asks Keith Ward, Peel's commissioner of human services. "You can plan all you want, but if you don't have any money, forget it," he says. Of course, without a plan in place there's no hope of getting assistance from the federal or provincial governments.
There may be some hope of a turnaround with the recent decision at Peel Region Council to hold on to the full amount of a financial windfall coming from a phase-out of the hated "Toronto tax" – money the regions are forced to send Toronto to help with social services costs – and apply it to local social needs instead of, say, fixing roads or offering tax relief. The financial bonus to the region is $10 million this year, rising to nearly $61 million by 2013.
But in a region where owners far outnumber renters, finding the political will to do something about the plight of those who can't afford to buy will remain difficult.
Beth Walden, staff lawyer at Peel and Dufferin County Legal Services, believes banning basement units doesn't help. Not only are they cheaper to rent, they can help first-time buyers pay the mortgage.
"It's a way of allowing some struggling young families to afford their homes," she says. "There are landlords who could create affordable housing, but they don't because of the bylaw. Then there are others willing to flout the law."
That creates a host of different issues. Walden's clinic is bombarded with people cheated or evicted on a landlord's whim because they aren't covered under the Residential Tenancies Act.
The act doesn't provide for those who share a bathroom or kitchen with the landlord. While it does cover tenants in illegal apartments, the act doesn't do much but require a four-month eviction period.
Sean Gadon, director of Toronto's Affordable Housing Office, paints a different picture in Toronto, where the 50-50 ratio of renters to owners means having enough vacancies in acceptable housing is high on the political agenda.
Under the city's "housing first" policy, land has been made available, development fees waived, and capital incentives created to help non-profits and the private sector fund low-rent developments.
"Our approach in Toronto is that everybody should play a role," Gadon says.
Terry Edgar, executive director of Mississauga Community Legal Services, said there has been no significant affordable housing built in Mississauga since he started in 1979. While there's concern about homelessness as Toronto experiences it, there's been little response to the problem that already exists, he said.
John Corbett, Brampton's planning commissioner, says social housing is Peel Region's responsibility, though it may need to grapple with the province on funding.
With a hefty tax burden already loaded onto Brampton citizens, Corbett doesn't feel they should have to shoulder more to provide tax breaks for organizations looking to build "any further housing." Decreasing development fees or waiving property taxes as incentives to build affordable apartments just isn't in the cards, he said.
Keith Ward, Peel's human services commissioner, would like to see a formal program – perhaps even cash incentives like Calgary's – offered to create affordable basement apartments that meet safety codes.
A break on development fees would help: currently, they're nearly $30,000 on every Brampton dwelling – prohibitive to those who might build affordable homes.
Ward believes that instead of trying to shift responsibility, all the players, including cities, should get on with finding a solution.
"It's in everyone's interest to make sure we have places for everyone to live," he says.
