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The Toronto Community Housing Corporation faces an overhaul that could transform the structure and delivery of affordable housing throughout the city. Today, the Mayor's Task Force on Toronto Community Housing presented its final report, titled 'Transformative Change for TCHC,' recommending a reconceptualization of community housing.
According to the report, "TCHC's current revenues are insufficient to manage and maintain good quality homes," with the corporation facing a $2 billion capital backlog, in addition to "a projected operating deficit of more than $60 million after 2016 that could grow to more than $200 million per year by 2026 if nothing changes."
In place of TCHC's centralized oversight and management of properties, the task force—chaired by former Mayor Art Eggleton—proposes spreading out the corporation's services across a network of not-for-profit organizations, with the goal of streamlining housing services into a more community based model. Maintaining the current proviso of providing 52,000 Rent Geared to Income (RGI) units—with a total portfolio of 58,000 units—the report recommends a more flexible housing strategy, combining the current TCHC model with Section 8-like private housing vouchers and a subsidized network of smaller community housing providers.
With TCHC also facing criticism for inefficiency and politicization over recent years, the Task Force recommends reforming the government corporation into an independent, arm's length agency—provisionally known as 'NewHome'—which would be removed from the City's balance sheet, allowing it to "increase borrowing capacity." Under this model, the new TCHC/'NewHome' would have the same legal status as any of Toronto's 240 other non-profit housing corporations.
The report targets a socio-economic restructuring of current TCHC properties into more mixed-income communities. Currently, roughly 90% of TCHC units are allocated to subsidized renters, with the remaining units leased at market rate. A reduction in subsidized units to 70% of total housing stock is targeted, with the argument that a mixed-income dynamic would "create a positive social mix in TCHC communities" while providing increased revenue.
In order to maintain the current portfolio of 52,000 RGI units while diversifying existing communities, housing vouchers and subsidies to smaller non-profit housing corporations would see some TCHC move to privately managed market-rate properties and smaller non-profit housing providers. The need to urgently retrofit TCHC's existing housing stock before transforming the properties into mixed-income communities is clearly outlined. However, considering TCHC's current capital backlog and the swelling wait list for affordable housing, the report identifies a need for much greater commitment from the Federal and Provincial governments.
Revitalizing the portfolio of TCHC properties would also involve "intensification on some sites," with the profits from new development—and the increases in the proportion of market-rate rents—funding part of the revitalization process. To create "[b]etter buildings and more of them... all three levels of government will need to provide their support through a range of new and existing tools within their control such as capital grants and loans, debt guarantees, or donations or preferential sale of surplus public land."
In addition, the streamlining of TCHC's bureaucratic structure is designed to foster a "flatter management model... with closer contact between managers, front-line workers, and tenants." The establishment of Tenant Advisory Committess would allow for more direct engagement with the City and community under the decentralized model, providing more support for vulnerable tenants through direct partnerships with specialized agencies.
The Task Force also recommends a reform of the RGI System in order to make maximum use of the housing benefits provided to tenants receiving social assistance under Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Housing Program (ODSP). The current TCHC rent scale is often lower than the maximum housing allowance, so changing it "to match the maximum OW and ODSP shelter allowances could significantly increase TCHC revenue with no impacts on tenants."
The report provides a focused strategy for improving the condition of TCHC's current housing stock—numbering at 2,200 buildings—and improving the social fabric of low-income communities. Improving existing housing conditions and turning potentially isolated low-income clusters into mixed-income communities could have positive ramifications for many community housing residents.
However, the report does not provide as comprehensive a strategy to tackle Toronto's rapidly growing social housing waitlist, which currently numbers 95,000 households. A commitment to maintaining funding for the 52,000 affordable units that currently exist is clearly outlined, but plans for expanding the system are more vague. As mentioned, however, increased support from the Provincial and Federal governments, could make a big difference. In terms of new housing, the lack of dedicated seniors housing is outlined as a particularly pressing concern.
Increasing revenues to make current housing stock more financially sustainable at least provides a stronger position for future expansion, and the report recognizes that necessity of "increas[ing] Toronto's supply of affordable housing." The report also notes that "only three of the 130 multi-residential buildings now under construction in Toronto include affordable rental housing," evidencing a lack of current initiative.
The dissolution of TCHC as a single, centralized body to oversee affordable housing in the city could cause new accountability issues and bureaucratic inefficiencies in its own right. As it stands, TCHC—which has only existed since 2002—provides approximately 70% of Toronto's social housing, with a portfolio valued at approximately $9 billion.
Well received by Mayor Tory and the City's Housing Advocate, Ana Bailão, the Task Force's final report will now be presented to the City's Executive Committee on January 28th. In addition to the vision outlined above, the Task Force has provided 29 more specific recommendations to the City, all of which are outlined in the report, available here.
What do you think of the proposed housing strategy? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below this page, or by joining in the ongoing discussion on our associated Forum thread.
