Affordable Housing I

Affordable? That’s rich
By SUE-ANN LEVY
April 22, 2007

It was a heady morning early last week for Mayor David Miller’s hand-picked bricks and mortar brigade on the city’s affordable housing committee.

With 10 new projects comprised of 800 so-called affordable homes on the agenda, they were positively tripping over each other with glee to rubberstamp the $160-million proposal.

Coun. Pam McConnell maintained the meeting was “about city building” and that they’d used the $160-million “very well.” She added that no community should have a “right to decide” who lives in their neighbourhoods — no doubt as a warning to those NIMBYs who’d even dare think of getting in the way of the mayor’s mission to create 1,000 new so-called “affordable” units per year.

I suspect Kathleen Llewellyn-Thomas, director of development in the affordable housing office, only increased their zeal when she noted she’s working on a 10-year plan — to be released in September — that will indicate which “new tools” they can use under the City of Toronto Act to further the mayor’s affordable housing goals. (Can’t wait.)

Committee chairman Giorgio Mammoliti joined the fray of self-promoters, insisting this long list of projects is something of which to be proud. “Skeptics who say the city and this council isn’t working don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said.

There you have it. It appears these forward-thinking bricks and mortar types have made great strides towards solving the city’s homeless problem — and on the cheap yet!

Gosh, I hate to rain on their parade but it’s just not so.

As I’ve noted in such columns on this subject before, it always amazes me that they can talk about such housing being affordable — with a straight face yet. It shouldn’t take a Harvard-trained economist like the mayor to calculate that if you invest $160-million in capital for 800 units, that’s works out on average to $200,000 per unit.

As the committee report noted, that does not include at least another $22-million annually in rent supplements and property tax exemptions needed to sustain the units.

As I’ve also noted, if the Millerites truly wanted to get the homeless off the streets — instead of being all-consumed with an affordable housing agenda as I think they are — they’d place the homeless in private apartments using rent supplements and counselling supports. None of the units proposed last week will be onstream until 2009 and the reports say nothing about counselling supports.

That brings me to the most important question — how many of these (not-so) affordable units have been earmarked for the Streets to Home (hard core homeless) clients?

After all, I still remember Miller insisting — more than once — when he introduced his $18.4-million Streets to Homes strategy that the only thing stopping the homeless from getting off the streets was a lack of affordable housing. It stands to reason these clients should take precedence.

But, as is typical at City Hall, the rather thin documents on the projects contain few details on who will be housed. The staff report says the program is targetted toward the mentally ill, victims of domestic violence, individuals with a “dual diagnosis” (whatever that means) and the working poor. It also mentions the projects will provide “opportunity” to house Streets to Homes clients, as appropriate.

I received few additional details from the politicians and homeless officials.“It’s somewhat premature to answer the question as to which clients will go in,” said Mammoliti, who got quite testy with me when I asked.

Lewellyn-Thomas said: “I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that.” She added there were “no targets” set for who will be placed in these units. but promised to send more information on numbers. I heard nothing further, despite several follow-up calls.

Shelter housing general manager Phil Brown told me late last week there is “no precise target” but they “absolutely” want to house Streets to Homes clients in these new units.

So it goes, leading me to conclude one thing. Nothing, especially not the cost or lack of detail, will stop the bricks and mortar brigade from their housing crusade. Those who dare ask questions encounter nothing but a brick wall.