Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says her party will “step up to the plate” to pay its fair share for repairing Toronto’s aging social housing stock if it forms the next provincial government.
Horwath made the promise after touring a Toronto Community Housing building with Mayor John Tory in the city’s downtown core on Monday morning.
Tory has been outspoken in his dissatisfaction with the recently released provincial budget and its lack of funding for TCHC repairs. The mayor has been putting pressure on the Ontario government to provide more money to deal with the issue.
The mayor applauded Horwath’s promise to fund one third of the $2.6 billion TCHC capital repair backlog on Monday.
“That’s an important commitment and as I have told every party leader, if you come through on your commitments to Toronto, I will be there to acknowledge that wherever and whenever,” he said.
“Ms. Horwath and the Ontario NDP are the first leader and party to explicitly embrace this social housing responsibility in partnership with the people of Toronto.”
Some TCHC units may be shuttered:
By the end of this year, the city says it will have spent $870 million on TCHC repairs, an amount which totals one third of the cost identified in its 10-year capital plan.
While the provincial budget did include $130 million in previously announced funds for energy retrofits and some provincial land for new affordable housing developments, the mayor previously said he was disappointed the province’s budget did not include new money for social housing.
The city says if more funding is not secured, the TCHC may have to close hundreds of units in 2018 and possibly even thousands in the coming years.
“Property taxes were never meant to bear fixing a problem of this magnitude,” Tory said of the repair backlog.
“Morally, socially, economically, I believe we all have to stand together and by that I mean not just all governments. All governments have to stand together but this community, the province of Ontario, we have to stand together to address the poor state of housing, home to 100,000 of our most vulnerable residents in the city of Toronto.”
Speaking to reporters Monday, Horwath said it would be “irresponsible” for a government to let social housing units close due to a lack of funds for repairs.
“The conditions we saw here today are heartbreaking and I’m very grateful to the residents who opened their doors and let us see their struggles up close,” she said.
“The newest provincial budget was Premier Wynne’s chance to undo some of the damage that her Liberal government has done to community housing across the province. In 2018, provincial funding for Toronto’s housing programs is expected to be less than half of what the city received in 2011. That’s a loss of nearly $180 million a year.”
She called the subject of social housing an “extremely important issue.”
Tory’s meeting with Horwath comes one week after the mayor met with Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown at city hall to discuss funds for social housing and transit.
Tory denied suggestions that his recent behaviour has ventured into partisan territory.
Late last month, Tory handed out flyers at an Etobicoke Toronto Community Housing complex and called on residents to contact their Liberal MPP about the need for more funding for repairs.
The flyers contained the name and photo of the MPP representing the neighbourhood.
The move was criticized by Ontario’s Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, who accused Tory of effectively campaigning against the MPP.
Tory hopes other leaders will come to the table:
Tory said he hopes the NDP’s commitment to fund repairs will inspire other leaders to make a similar promise.
“I hope that the commitment Ms. Horwath has made and the NDP will cause the others to pause and reflect, not just on matters of money. I hope they will pause and reflect on who we are talking about here. We’re talking about single families. We’re talking about people on disability. We are talking about elderly people who have nowhere else to turn,” he added.
“I just believe in the end that Premier Wynne will come to the same conclusion because I know what’s in her heart and I know what she’s said before about these kinds of things.”
Wynne said she does not believe the recent dispute over social housing and transit funding has damaged the relationship she has with the mayor.
“Mayor Tory and I have regular conversations and we have worked together on a number of issues. He will talk to whomever he chooses to at this point but I’m very, very committed to the relationship between the province and the municipalities,” she said Monday.
“Will there be moments where there are notes of discord between us? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean the relationship is broken.”
