Kudos To Toronto City Council

Although I will have to hold on to medals until I actually see it happen. I commend Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti stand on the past NIMBY stance of many of the members of council but again I will wait and see. I would love to see first priority given to the "working poor" particularly single working parents with rents geared to income.

The only downside I can see is that another bureaucracy will be formed within City Hall and the record of the current Toronto Housing leaves something to be desired and I certainly hope that part of the rent component will be $$$$ required for maintenance and repairs and this would go into a seperate fund rather than into the city coffers.

City housing for 1,500 planned
And `not in my back yard' won't wash for sites spread over 10 wards: Councillor
April 14, 2007
Donovan Vincent
City Hall Bureau

Ten proposed projects that would house 1,500 people for $160 million – the largest affordable-housing package Toronto has seen in years – will go to a city hall committee for approval Tuesday.

And the politician backing the proposal, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, says he won't tolerate any "NIMBY" arguments from residents in neighbourhoods where the projects are likely to end up.

"I won't accept `not in my back yard.' I will not accept it," vowed the chair of the affordable housing committee yesterday. "In fact, I don't want to talk to anybody if they're going to bring (that) approach ...

"I'm going to move forward with our agenda, and I'll only listen to, and the committee will only listen to, valid planning arguments."

If approved, the 10 projects – which would cater to groups such as seniors with mental health disabilities, single mothers fleeing domestic abuse, young adults with psychiatric illness, and low-income families – would comprise a massive social initiative.

Late last year, the city put out a call for proposals from community groups that would yield a total of 600 affordable-housing units. Added to those submissions are two Toronto Community Housing Corp. developments that would provide 200 more units.

Money to build the units would flow primarily from the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program, a federal-provincial agreement signed in April 2005.

Toronto would contribute its share by way of property tax exemptions, waived development fees, leases on two city properties, and 110 rent supplements.

If Mammoliti's committee backs the package, it would next need full council approval. No package this large has come up for a vote in close to five years.

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