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.