Affordable Housing Announcement

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing came to Hamilton this morning to announce the much anticipated Long Term Affordable Housing Strategy (LTAHS.)

Many of you came out to last year's consultations and/or made input into the strategy.

It would be nice to report that everything you asked for has found its way into the LTAHS but I'm sure you will know that isn't the case.

On the positive side there are significant changes to regulations that govern social housing. The clinic will provide some analysis on this when more details are available – hopefully, later this week.

There is also a commitment to give cities more power to adapt to the different needs found in their respective communities. Municipalities will also now be able (be required, in fact) to establish policies for second or accessory units in new and existing developments. Local authorities will get the power to make more decisions without approval of the provincial government as currently many activities including financing and other matters require "ministerial consent."

Many of you will be disappointed, though, with what isn't in the report. For example, there are no new operating or capital dollars for housing. Also, no Housing Benefit that would help bridge the gap between the high cost of housing for those whose incomes are too low to afford anything decent. (It should be said that the government has promised to explore this idea.)

I’m not seeing anything in the report on accessible housing or home ownership programs or any commitment for supportive housing.

For those who want more details I’m suggesting you take a look at the Ministry website (Ontario.ca/housing Strategy).

You might also want to read the Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott’s analysis at www.wellesleyinstitute.com

His piece is called “Scaffolding-up-but-lots-of-work-still-needed-before-Ontario-finishes-building-its-housing-plan.”

Once we have all had time to take a closer look at this some thought needs to be given to next steps.

What do you think? Are you happy with the LTAHS? I’m interested in your ideas.

Optimism for Housing Bill

At the risk of repeating myself (see earlier postings) members of Parliament are voting on Bill C- 304 today.

You’ll know that Bill C-304 is a private member's bill from MP Libby Davies that would require the federal government to consult widely and create a national affordable housing plan within six months

Housing advocate Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute (http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/) reports that “(T)his is the closest Canada has come to a truly comprehensive national affordable housing plan in two decades, and would help to bring Canada in compliance with its international housing rights obligations.”

It has been a long and complicated process for Bill 304.

NDP and Liberal Members have backed the bill since the outset. Bloc members who were once onside, then opposed, seem to be in support again subject to approval of an amendment.

If I’m understanding it correctly, then, today’s vote would send the bill back to Committee where it should pass.

Later in December Libby Davies hopes that it will get to the floor of the Commons for third reading before Parliament recesses for the holidays in mid-December.

When I mentioned this at home this morning the response I got was: “Yeah, but what about the Senate?”

I’ll have to think about that one.

Let's be Clear about "Affordable Housing"

It is important how language is used.

So it bothers me when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) takes liberties with the English language.

They did it today (November 10th) - and it is not the first time.

A Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton area reports that housing prices will remain steady for the next year “thereby keeping homes affordable” in the city.

Affordable, for whom?

The spokesperson is speaking of the resale housing market, of course, which means little to those 40% of Hamilton residents who choose to rent or are forced to rent.

For them the housing “market’ is not one that is affordable.

Affordable housing is accommodation where housing costs do not exceed 30% of income. You can find that generally accepted definition on the CMHC website.

Using that measure, according to data from the Social Planning and Research Council (SPRC – www.sprc.hamilton.on.ca), many in our community are living in housing that is not affordable.

In fact, more than 11,000 (36%) of all families who rent and 17,700 (52%) of all singles are living in housing that is not affordable - that’s 44% of all renter households in Hamilton.

The kind of housing that CMHC talks about being “affordable” is not an option to nearly half of Hamilton’s renters. It is, therefore, a disservice to them to present the current housing market in such positive terms.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is Canada’s national housing agency. Established as a government-owned corporation in 1946 to address Canada’s post-war housing shortage, it describes itself “as a major national institution.”

This major institution would make a better contribution to discussions on housing policy if it was more careful with its language.

Housing Bill still a Possibility

Further to the last post Bill C-304 was not voted on last week.

It received one hour of debate. Another hour will come later. The Bloc has moved an amendment which, if approved, will return the bill to Committee to consider an amendment on the question of provincial jurisdiction. As Libby Davies, the champion of the bill notes:

"Getting a Private Members Bill through Parliament is no easy task and there are many procedural and potential roadblocks to overcome."

Indeed.

But it will be worth the wait to have legislation so that Canada will finally have an affordable housing strategy in place like most other developed countries.

It is not known when the second hour of debate will occur. Keep in touch by following Ms. Davies webste at libbydavies.ca

An Opportunity for a National Housing Strategy

Bill C – 304 will receive third reading in the House of Commons tonight.

The Bill championed by Vancouver East New Democrat Libby Davies intends to create a national housing strategy in consultation with all levels of government, aboriginal communities, non-profit and private sector housing providers and others.

Our country is unique among developed nations in not having a strategy. The Bill includes:

*a strong commitment to the right to adequate housing as guaranteed under international human rights law.
*targets and timelines for the elimination of homelessness.
*a process for independent review and a way to address and report complaints about possible violations of the right to adequate housing
*a key role for civil society organizations in designing the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of programs required to implement the right to adequate housing

Status of Bill 304

This is a private members bill and such bills seldom succeed. There has, however, been a fair amount of support through the long process of first and second reading and across the country. Liberals and New Democrats support it. I understand the Bloc Quebecois support it in principle but are troubled by an amendment they would not allow the province of Quebec some flexibility if the legislation is successful.

Significant support from Bloc members would be needed for Ms. Davies' bill to pass.

Advocates recommend contacting Gilles Duceppe (DucepG@parl.gc.ca) leader of the Bloc Quebecois to ask for his support.

Let’s face it the country really needs a national strategy on housing and homelessness.

Housing and the Municipal Election

You are being bombarded with candidates knocking at the door; campaign "literature" overflows your mailbox and blows down the street; and that nice view that you are familiar with is obscured by election signs. And I won't even mention the stadium.

With all this going on it is easy to lose sight of the fact that there are important issues at stake in the October 25th municipal election; rental housing policies and practices for example.

Tenant advocates working on the Solutions for Housing Action Committee (SHAC) have put together a questionnaire for candidates.

SHAC, a grassroots community group with a 25 year history, believes that housing is a right. In fact, it is guaranteed under the United Nations Covenant on Social and Economic Rights which Canada signed on to 1948.

Here are five commitments SHAC would like from candidates:

1. A regulatory regime for all landlords in Hamilton should be implemented. It should include compulsory annual inspections that will ensure compliance with property standard by-laws.

2. A moratorium on condo conversions is required. Rental housing stock in the city has been depleted. One reason this is happening is that Council usually approves requests for conversion of rental properties to condominium ownership.

3. A full review is needed of the Access to Housing wait list and the various citizen and advisory committees that are associated with it. The waiting list is growing faster in Hamilton than almost anywhere else in the province. It is imperative that effectiveness and transparency of the City's housing responsibilities be achieved.

4. A city wide inventory of existing housing must be compiled to inform future planning for adequate and accessible housing. While this is a long standing request, there is still no public listing of the number of universally accessible and modified units or units suitable for low income singles or units appropriate for larger families.

5. The eviction prevention policy negotiated between housing advocates and City Housing Hamilton (CHH) should be fully enforced. The recent review of Toronto Housing Corporation's eviction policies following the death of 82 year old tenant Al Gosling show how important such policies are.

It is hoped that you'll engage the candidates on these issues. There are other important issues, to be sure, but it is fair to say that housing policies affect all of us. Housing is, to quote the City's Official Plan, "fundamental to the economic, social and physical well-being of Hamilton's residents and communities."

One opportunity to engage the candidates for Mayor on housing issues will be on Monday October 4th at the Jamesville Community Centre 209 MacNab Street North.  The meeting starts at 1:30.

                        (This story originally appeared in North End Breezes)

Mayoral Candidates' Debate

The clinic is a co-sponsor of the upcoming City of Hamilton Mayoral Candidates’ Debate.

The debate will take place Monday October 4th (United Nations’ World Habitat Day) at Jamesville Community Centre, 209 MacNab Street North from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. Come and hear what our candidates have to say about housing and homelessness in Hamilton!

All candidates running for Mayor in the upcoming election have been invited to discuss and debate those housing issues that are the responsibility of municipal government. It is anticipated that topics such as social housing waitlists and unit conditions, lack of affordable housing stock and tenant rights and landlord responsibilities will be front and centre that afternoon.

It is fitting that the debate is being held on World Habitat Day. This UN recognized event takes place annually on the first Monday of October and is intended to encourage reflection on the state of human settlements and people’s right to sufficient shelter. The day is also set aside to remind us that we are all responsible for the habitat of future generations.

Joining the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic in hosting and planning the event are the Solutions for Housing Action Committee (SHAC), the Housing Help Centre of Hamilton, Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, the Affordable Housing Flagship and the City of Hamilton’s Tenant Advisory Committee.

Information is available at 905-545-0442.

Province Delays

I seldom meet deadlines.

And while I like to think of myself as basically honest and well
intentioned I make a lot of promises that I don’t keep.

Now that I have full disclosure out of the way I’m feel less
constrained in criticizing the provincial government who, at least in
regard to their promised affordable housing strategy, both missed
the deadline and haven’t kept their promises.

Some history:

As part of their poverty reduction strategy developed earlier in
their second term, the McGuinty Liberals committed to developing a
long term affordable housing strategy.

An extensive consultation process commenced over a year
ago with the Minster of Housing or his Parliamentary Assistant visiting
13 cities to get input. In Hamilton, more than 200 people turned
out to a well run September event.

There was no shortage of ideas at the session and in briefs
submitted to the government. Our Clinic, for example, argued that
small changes to aspects of legislation governing rent-geared-toincome
housing programs would actually reduce homelessness.

Cynics cautioned that the government wasn’t really prepared
to make significant changes. But expectations had been raised
and, even though a new minister was brought in late in the game,
optimists were encouraged as the government repeatedly insisted a
report would come forward in June.

Then on June 15th an announcement: No report until
September. "We will continue to engage our partners over the
summer as we get down to the details," announced a Ministry
spokesperson."

So what’s the big deal with a few months delay, you say?

A lot, I’ll argue.

In Hamilton, the social housing waiting list has grown over
20% since the consultation began. (This is the largest percentage
increase in the province among big municipalities.) Almost no new
affordable rental housing has been built in our city in 15 years. The
number of rental housing units is actually decreasing in numbers
due to demolitions and condominium conversions. And, existing
housing is becoming more unaffordable as, according to data from
the Social Planning and Research Council, real incomes have been
stagnant and actually going down for those on social assistance.

Waiting a few months in order "to further engage" may not
seem like a huge delay. But for many in our community who
continue to live in precarious and difficult situations, I'm sure the
months will seem like years.

(This story originally appeared in North End Breezes.)

Precedent Setting Municipal Planning

(This piece orignally appeared on the Hamilton Spectator Poverty Blog)

An Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) ruling that came out earlier this year may have implications for tenants and others living in Hamilton.

The ruling involved an attempt by to use zoning tools to “clean up” a 10 block area in that city known as Cedar Hill. It seems that Cedar Hill needs cleaning up as twenty percent of this area’s residents are persons with disabilities and/or persons in receipt of social assistance. Many live in shelters, group homes or rent-geared-to-income housing.

The City had decided that this situation represented an “over-concentration” resulting in “an unhealthy social environment.” The neighbourhood was on “a downward trajectory.” Scary stuff, indeed.

Some of the parties represented at the OMB hearing suggested that Kitchener was doing a little bit of “people zoning.” The important planning principle to keep in mind being that when you zone, you zone for uses not for people.

This is an important and probably precedent setting case. Way back in 2003 the City banned any new “downward trajectory” promoting facilities. But, at the same time a commitment was made to do more study which would promote the development of new lodging houses and residential care facilities in all other appropriate areas of the city.

After four weeks of hearings the OMB agreed that there was, in fact, a concentration and that the City is entitled to develop initiatives to distribute facilities throughout the city. The Board, though, had a problem with the fact that the promised additional study never happened. As a result they ruled that the restrictive measures put in place were premature and ordered the city to do the study it should have done five years ago.

In other words if a city is going to restrict opportunities for housing people with disabilities and/or those on assistance they’ll have to do appropriate preparation required by the Planning Act.

Human Rights Concerns

There is also a significant human rights issue. Ontario Human Right Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall sees it this way:

“People with disabilities or on social assistance were the targets; they were told in effect ‘we don’t want more people like you in this neighbourhood.’ The Human Rights Code says you can’t discriminate like that.”

The OMB has given the municipality 15 months to get it right. Municipal planners around the province are taking notice. Let’s see what happens. In the meantime you can view this interim decision on the OMB website (http://www.omb.gov.on.ca) by typing in PL050611.

A "SHIFT" TO SIDEWALKS FROM SOCIAL SERVICES

(This story originally appeared on the Hamilton Spectator's Poverty Blog June 7/10)


The Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) assists municipalities with their social program costs.

Recently OMPF reconciled the 2008 allocations against real expenditures and costs and as a result many municipalities received more money. Hamilton got about $3.1 million dollars; the Region of Niagara got $2.1 million.

I became aware of this today when reading a bulletin from CATCH (Citizens at City Hall). CATCH is a volunteer community group that encourages civic participation in Hamilton. The CATCH story focussed on the fact that Hamilton Councillors were all going to be getting about $250,000 each to spend in their wards on sidewalk repairs. "In a shift from normal practice" they apparently decided not to follow the usual priority setting process for allocating funds. This is indeed a shift but it is an election year and you'll see more shifts and other silliness before October 25th.

The CATCH story went on to note that $3.1 million of the $3.6 million fund being divvied up by the Councillors came from the OMPF reconciliation dollars. But shouldn't that money be going back into social services? That suggestion was rejected by Council.

I mentioned Niagara. They took their monies and put $600,000 into Emergency Medical Services and the remaining 1.5 million into an account to offset the Community Services net deficit. That makes sense; seems logical.

Up in Thunder Bay the city got $1.3 million back. Government member Michael Gravelle, the MPP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, was "absolutely delighted about this additional funding for social programs and other services."

Hamilton politicians seem to be marching to a different drummer here or am I missing something?

Report On Affordable Housing Documents Concerns

On page sixty three of Where's Home? you'll find the following statement:

"Thus, Hamilton offers one of the most affordable rental markets in southern Ontario."

That conclusion is gleaned from data that the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada have put together in their annual report analyzing 22 housing markets across the province.

The report looks at average incomes for different occupations and then plots those incomes against average rents using the traditional 30% rent to income ratio that is generally accepted these days as what one should spend on housing as a portion of income.

What does that mean in our City? A chart shows that elementary teachers and carpenters can afford the average rent which is pegged at $824 for a two bedroom in the Hamilton Census Measurement Area.

But how about a data entry clerk, for example? That individual's $27,565 annual income could afford a one bedroom ($666 average) but not a two bedroom.

Or a single pensioner's $1,253 monthly income would suggest $376 as appropriate rent but that won't be able to find much with the average bachelor going for at $511 per month in our city.

Affordable?

To the statement above, then, my answer would be most affordable to whom? Clearly, not affordable to those individuals in some of the occupations cited above. The sad fact though, is that tenants in other Southern Ontario cities fare much worse than Hamilton tenants.

Other Hamilton data in the report:

**Hamilton has lost 543 units of rental housing in the ten year period from 1999.

**139 rental units have been completed on average each year for the past five years, much below what is needed but still up from the previous five years when the average was 23 per year.

**While our vacancy rate is going up (now at 4.0%) much of that increase is in properties renting for under $500 which the report points out are often older units in need of repair.

This is an excellent document well worth reading. You can find it at www.onpha.on.ca

SOCIAL HOUSING WAIT LISTS INCREASE DRAMATICALLY

The Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) reported earlier this month that waiting lists for social housing in Ontario jumped almost ten percent in just one year.

Almost 142,000 households are currently on these lists in Ontario. According to ONPHA Executive Director Sharad Kerur this represents the most significant increase since the organization has been collecting the data. (The full report can be found at www.onpha.on.ca)

In Hamilton the social housing waiting list swelled to 5,045 from 4,166 an increase of over 21%.

This is the largest increase in the province among big municipalities. It is hard to see things improving until we start building truly affordable housing.

Housing advocates are hoping a long term affordable housing strategy promised by the provincial government will address waiting lists and other matters related to affordable housing.

Announcements on the new strategy are expected in June.

An advocates group called the Housing Network of Ontario has created a Five Test Plan for the government's much anticipated strategy.

To pass the five tests a plan will need to effectively reduce and eventually eliminate housing-related poverty, build equitable, inclusive and thriving communities, and help strengthen Ontario’s economy through long-term job creation and lowering the social costs associated with poverty. (More information on the five tests can be found at http://stableandaffordable.com/