Moscoe's plan for repair backlog
Suitably embarrassed that he's a slum landlord and one of his buildings was emblazoned on the front page of the Toronto Star for being the city's worst maintained – having 45 work orders for repairs – Toronto Mayor David Miller acknowledged the problem in a letter to the editor yesterday.
The $300-million backlog of repairs in city-owned subsidized housing "calls for immediate and concrete action," the mayor wrote, and then proceeded to write five paragraphs of excuses and apologetics which offered neither immediate nor concrete action.
Buildings like 1884 Davenport Rd. deteriorate into deplorable condition because the province downloaded them on the city in a poor state of repair, minus any maintenance or contingency funds, he said. And he dismissed criticism that decried the city's approval of new buildings when it can't repair the ones it already has.
We can do better than that.
Tenants like Roderick Brentnall, whose letter appeared just below the mayor's, deserve more than the "living hell" he and others describe. Tenants with unsafe living conditions care little about inter-governmental squabbling. Surely, our elected representatives understand that. Or, they might, if they lived in those conditions for a few nights.
Councillor Howard Moscoe, as close to a streetwise politician as there is at city hall, yesterday said what the mayor should have.
"The building ought to be repaired; it has to be repaired. The city must abide by the same standards as other landlords." While the 45 work orders were filled, it's difficult to keep ahead of repairs in the 186-unit building owned by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
In addition to saying the right thing, Moscoe (Ward 15, Eglinton-Lawrence) is also acting, though his impolitic intervention often leaves the mayor's mandarins aflutter.
Moscoe has gone to provincial officials with a brilliant and necessary idea. Toronto would borrow the $300 million required to clear the backlog. Interest on the loan would amount to about $26 million, he says. The city and province would split the amount.
Why didn't someone dream this up some time ago? What's keeping the principals from signing a deal?
Moscoe says he's held talks with Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Gerretsen's office, "all under the radar." And the idea is a political win for the government.
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