This presentation examines social housing and housing needs in Toronto and Canada.
Michael Shapcott, Director of Housing and Innovation
www.wellesleyinstitute.com
Follow us on twiter @wellesleyWI
9. “Our survey of Toronto housing reveals... thousands of
families living in houses which are insanitary,
verminous, and grossly overcrowded... Bad houses are
not only a menace: they are active agents of destruction...
they destroy happiness, health and life...”
!
“Housing conditions are bad because many families cannot
earn enough to pay for decent and healthful dwellings...”
!
“Not only were bad housing conditions discovered, but the
presence of a serious housing shortage was also detected...
The community is responsible for provision of satisfactory
dwellings for those who are too poor to afford them.”
!
The Bruce Commission, 1934
12. Bad housing makes you sick!
Homelessness:
Increased morbidity
Increased premature morality
Mental health:
Alarming rates... especially
Clinical depression and anxiety
Control / meaning
Collective efficacy
Biological / physical:
Chemicals, gases, pollutants
Design (accidents) / crowdingSocio-economic:
Affordability / energy
Transportation / income / jobs
Contextual:
Individual / neighbourhood deprivation
networks / friends / crime
13. Good housing good for health!
Physical and mental health:
Better health outcomes /
decreased health care utilization
Community safety:
Reduced recidivism among
people leaving incarceration
Affordability interventions:
Income-based housing subsidies
Environment / physical infrastructure:
New housing, repairs, heating, noise,
indoor + outdoor environmental issues,
allergens, water + sanitation
15. Dominion Housing Act (1935) is a ‘comedy of
errors’, ‘an act to facilitate the financing of homes
for the middle class who were not in the market.’
!
Dominion Housing Authority is required to provide
financing for rental housing aimed at low-income
households. ‘I am sure it is not beyond the art of
man to bring this about, even in
Canada, even after five years of
desperate depression.’
!
Percy Nobbs,
Dean of Architecture,
McGill University,
January, 1936
16. Immediate post-war era (1940s to 1960s):
!
• Creation of Central (now Canada) Mortgage and
Housing Corporation
!
• Loan / mortgage assistance (espy for returning war
vets) - long-term mortgages
!
• Public housing / urban renewal (75% federal funding /
25% provincial)
17. ! Good housing at a reasonable cost is
a social right of every citizen of this
country. . . This must be our objective,
our obligation and our goal.
Federal government, 1973
Hon. Ron Basford
National
Housing
Act 1973
18. Mid 1970s to mid-1990s:
!
• 600,000+ new social
homes in mixed-income
buildings / neighbourhoods
• Provincial cost-sharing
Bathurst
Quay
St
Lawrence
21. 31st October 1945. MACKAY J.:—This is an application brought
by Drummond Wren... to have declared invalid a restrictive
covenant... namely, ‘Land not to be sold to Jews or persons of
objectionable nationality.’...
First and of profound significance is the recent San Francisco
Charter, to which Canada was a signatory, and which the
Dominion Parliament has now ratified. Under articles 1 and 55 of
this Charter, Canada is pledged to promote ‘universal respect for,
and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.’...
An order will therefore go declaring that the restrictive
covenant attacked by the applicant is void and of no effect.
22. Toronto 1911:
Founding of
Wellesley Hospital
International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
!
Article 11
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize
the right of everyone to an adequate standard of
living for himself and his family, including adequate food,
clothing and housing, and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions. The
States Parties will take appropriate steps
to ensure the realization of this right...
23. Toronto 1911:
Founding of
Wellesley Hospital
City of Kitchener (2010)
Ontario Municipal Board
Discriminatory municipal bylaw on spatial separation
!
“Statutory tribunals empowered to decide questions of law are presumed
to have the power to look beyond their enabling statutes in order to apply
the whole law to a matter properly in front of them.... The presumptive
power to look beyond the tribunal's enabling statute is triggered simply
where a tribunal (with the authority to decide questions of law) is
confronted with "issues... that arise in the course of a case properly
before” it....”
Victoria (City) v. Adams (2009)
BC Court of Appeal
Municipal bylaw criminalizing activities
associated with homelessness
“The use of international instruments to aid in the
interpretation of the meaning and scope of rights under
the Charter, and in particular the rights protected under s.
7 and the principles of fundamental justice, is well-
established in Canadian jurisprudence.”
24.
25. UN Special
Rapporteur,
2009
“Canada has a long and proud history of
housing successes, and has been known
around the world for its innovative
housing solutions. The Special Rapporteur
visited and received information about
programmes, laws and policies that
represent good practices... Canada can
also rely on a tremendous range of
academic and civil society resources.” !
27. Four observations:
!
!
1.Housing insecurity deep / persistent
2.Costly to people, communities,
economy, government
3.Federal housing / homelessness
investments eroding
4.No comprehensive national plan
29. UN Special Rapporteur, 2009
“There has been a significant erosion of housing rights
over the past two decades. Canada’s successful social
housing programme, which created more than half a
million homes starting in 1973, has been discontinued.
30. “It is only in Canada that the national government has, except
for CMHC loans, withdrawn from social housing. The rush to
get out of managing existing projects and building new, low-
income housing has taken advocates by surprise. It was
never imagined that a system that had taken 50 years to
build-up could be dismantled so rapidly. Social housing policy
in Canada now consists of a checker-board of 12 provincial
and territorial policies, and innumerable local policies. It is
truly post-modern.”
!
Dr. Jean M. Wolfe, McGill University, 1998
No national
housing plan
31. Devolution of social housing:
!
• 1984 to 1993 - funding cuts to federal housing programs
!
• 1993 - no new funding for new social housing
!
• 1995 - Ontario suspends provincial housing programs
!
• 1996 - feds start to download federal housing programs
!
• 1998 - Ontario starts to download provincial housing programs
!
• 1998 - National Housing Act amended - focus on
commercialization of national housing agency
38. “After 20 years of continuous decline, both inequality and
poverty rates have increased rapidly in the past 10 years,
now reaching levels above the OECD average.”
OECD (2008), Growing Unequal? : Income Distribution and
Poverty in OECD Countries
39. Toronto social housing wait list:
!
• January 2014 - 91,232 households (167,908 people)
!
• New record every month since recession of 2008
!
• Up 10% in one year
40. Toronto - 1970
!
Below middle
Middle income
Upper income
The Three Cities - David Hulchanski, U of T
41. Toronto - 2005
!
Below middle
Middle income
Upper income
The Three Cities - David Hulchanski, U of T