More Smoke & Mirrors From Comrade Miller???

A Landlord's first responsibility is to keep his property in a good state of repair, in compliance with local health and safety codes and to provide a safe environment. 75 million housing questions Is handing a blank cheque to TCH the best way to spend proceeds from hydro sale? Buried deep in the bowels of today's 8.9-cm thick executive committee agenda is the plan to hand over essentially a $75 million blank cheque to Toronto Community Housing for the "rehabilitation" of some of its decrepit housing stock. Not that one would call it much of a plan. The city report proposing the windfall from the sale of Toronto Hydro's telecom arm go to the cash-strapped TCH is a mere 4.5 pages long. It contains only a proposal to create a new TCH State of Good Repair Reserve Fund in which to plunk the money -- but no conditions attached to its use. "The contribution ... makes good financial sense for the city," the report concludes. Well duh. What else would city officials say after Mayor David Miller, practising up for his new strong mayor powers, boldly declared two Fridays ago the sale's proceeds would be used to fix up about 5,000 THC units and retrofit 10 buildings with energy-efficient systems. If this makes such good fiscal sense, why is the report "hidden in plain sight" as an addendum (numbered 16a) to another fairly innocuous report -- and not right next to the report on TCH's 2008-2010 community management plan? After all, the $75 million will impact on that plan. Short answer: The move may make good public relations sense for Miller and his complicit champions of the disenfranchised. But financial sense? I'm not convinced. BACKLOG IN REPAIRS There's no doubt TCH has a serious backlog in repairs -- some $350 million this year -- and sorely needs a cash infusion to get out of its massive debt problems. The Sun recently revealed it has 1,422 fixer-up units sitting vacant. But there are plenty of city assets desperately in need of cash as well. Parks and community centres have a $232-million repair backlog this year, the to-do list for the city's roads and bridges is $310 million. I'm not sure it's Miller's call -- however empowered he may feel as of late -- to devote all $75 million to TCH. It's actually quite cheeky, in my view, to assume city taxpayers don't deserve to drive on better roads or to enjoy better-maintained parks and community centres, or to see their trees maintained in a more timely fashion. I also have a hard time conceiving of handing over such a huge cash infusion -- carte blanche -- to a housing agency that is as much the author of its own misfortune as the provincial government its socialist taskmasters constantly blame for downloading 58,000 units and the associated mess on them in 2002. TCH's community management plan clearly states even with $350 million in operating money from the city this year and rental income, it will still experience a $101 million funding shortfall -- money to be made up by drawing from the corporation's reserves and through third-party financing (no details provided). INANE PLAN Those dire straits notwithstanding, the bright lights at Socialist Silly Hall are prepared to hand over 717 Broadview Ave. to TCH to build a new 62-unit affordable housing project for seniors. That inane plan -- which is also on today's executive committee agenda -- will cost $20 million altogether (or $325,000 per unit) and calls for TCH to contribute $5.8 million toward the project. Now I don't know what kind of fiscal priority-setting the mayor learned in his Harvard economics studies but if you can't afford to manage the portfolio you have, you shouldn't be taking on new commitments. It would also make sense to wait until the TCH has completed its strategic asset review (with an eye to possibly selling off some of its units) before committing any money at all. I'm told that review is due out at the end of July -- or maybe in September. Coun. Case Ootes bristles when he thinks of the long-list of valuable single-family homes owned by the TCH -- which are either sitting vacant or in disrepair -- and the TCH's inability to manage their assets in a "responsible way." His efforts since last November to sell some of them off and devote the money to much-needed repairs have consistently fallen on deaf ears. He also feels TCH focuses far too much on social programs -- their management report talks about anti-racism study circles for residents -- instead of much-needed repairs. "If the TCH uses the $75 million the same way they have managed their assets so far, it's going to be money down the drain," he said." It's not going to make a bit of difference."