{"id":23660,"date":"2019-04-26T14:58:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T18:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23660"},"modified":"2019-04-26T14:58:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T18:58:29","slug":"province-moves-to-improve-safeguard-community-housing-across-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/province-moves-to-improve-safeguard-community-housing-across-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Province moves to improve, safeguard Community Housing across Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three levels of government need to work together to ensure Ontario\u2019s most vulnerable have a place to live, according to Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Province stepped up to\nthe plate with a series of measures Wednesday morning aimed at helping to\nsustain, repair and grow community housing and help end homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announced in Newmarket-Aurora\nalongside area MPP \u2013 and Deputy Premier \u2013 Christine Elliott, the Province\u2019s new\nCommunity Housing Renewal Strategy includes \u201cearly steps\u201d aimed at improving\ncommunity housing by making rent more predictable, fostering a climate where\ntenants can seek opportunities for work and education without penalty for\nworking more hours or going to school, and freeing up wait lists by having\ntenants prioritize their first choice and accept the first unit they are\noffered, and making housing available \u201cto those who truly need it\u201d by requiring\nan \u201casset test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community housing, said the\nMinister, will also be made safer by empowering housing providers to turn away\ntenants who have been evicted for criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHomes are more than just\nbricks and mortar; they are the foundation to raise a happy, healthy family,\u201d\nsaid Clark. \u201cA home allows people to participate in their community, whether it\nis through work, volunteering, shopping at local businesses or attending local\nevents. Our government believes everyone deserves a place to call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, there are too\nmany families living in places that are overcrowded and rundown. Some of them\njust aren\u2019t safe. Across the Province, there is a shortage of good community\nhousing for people who need it the most. York Region is not immune. In fact, it\nhas the lowest supply of social housing compared to its population in the\nProvince. There are only 17 units available for every 1,000 households. The\nRegion\u2019s wait list is well over 14,000, double what it was seven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, Mr. Clark said\nmunicipalities across the Province are feeling the pinch when it comes to\ncommunity housing and without any support the situation will only get worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause much of Ontario\u2019s\ncommunity housing was built a long time ago, and when the original funding\nagreements that support them will soon come to an end, when that happens we\nrisk losing some of the housing people are relying on. If nothing is done,\nthere is a possibility that over 106,000 units across the Province could be\nlost in less than 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new measures, he said\nwill help \u201cmeet people\u2019s complex and changing needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing providers will be\neligible for more flexible and streamlined arrangements and may also be\neligible for new funding as their original agreements expire to help protect\nexisting units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system will go on to make\nit easier for tenants to predict their rent and make it easier for housing\nproviders to calculate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to removing\npenalties for tenants who might wish to pursue education or further work hours,\nthey will also be protected from being penalized financially for child support\npayments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, our service\nmanagers will use their discretion to make sure everyone on the waitlist is\nrespected and finds the home that best suits their needs,\u201d said Clark. \u201cOur plan\nwill require service managers to set appropriate asset limits for applicants to\nensure community housing is provided to those who need it most, and give\nhousing providers the power to turn away former tenants that have been evicted\nfor serious criminal activity so all residents can feel safer in their homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy ministry is providing\nmore than $1 billion this year to help maintain, repair and grow Ontario\u2019s\nsystem of community housing; help get those living on the streets into stable\nhomes and continue to support off-reserve indigenous housing in the Province.\nThis money will go directly to the communities and much of it is flexible so\nthat it can be invested in solutions that best meet local needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re leveraging every single\nfederal dollar that is available to us by cost matching the Federal National\nHousing Strategy investments. I am so pleased to see the Federal Government\u2019s\nrenewed interest in the Housing file. Our province needs all three levels of\ngovernment engaged so we can solve our Province\u2019s housing crisis. I plan on\ncontinuing to push my colleagues in Ottawa to invest their fair share. The\nNational Housing Strategy is a good start, but it is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward, Mr. Clark told\nmedia at Wednesday\u2019s announcement that it is essential to \u201cmake sure all three\nlevels of government are working together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to make sure our\ncommunity partners, those not for profits and existing organizations that are\nproviding housing and housing supports, that we all work together. If the\nprivate sector wants to participate in and it results in more stock, renewed\nstock or renewed opportunities, we will explore every option available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked what the Province could\ndo to incentivise housing companies and developers to allocate units for community\nhousing and make a better climate for public-private partnerships, he said\nthere will be more to say \u201cin coming weeks\u201d about what has been done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am realistic though,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cThere will have to be other measures that we\u2019ll have to move forward on\nas a government in the fall. There is not one thing I can table in the\nlegislature and then have everyone pat me on the back and say that I solved the\nhousing crisis. That is not going to happen. It is a continual focus on what we\ncan do to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday\u2019s announcement at\nNewmarket\u2019s Old Town Hall was also attended by Mayor Tom Mrakas. Speaking to\nThe Auroran following afterward, he said it is \u201calways great to see the\nProvincial government come to the table and say we need to provide some better\ntools to increase not only our supply, but how efficient we are when we provide\ncommunity housing for residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it is a good first\nstep, but we need to continue work not just within the Provincial government\nbut all levels of government to make sure we can end homelessness within York\nRegion.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All three levels of government need to work together to ensure Ontario\u2019s most vulnerable have a place to live, according to Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2019-04-25-08.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-69C","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 09:28:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}