Mayoral candidate John Tory is vowing to immediately move forward with much needed repairs to derelict community housing buildings in an effort to “shame” other levels of government into coming to the table.

In November, city council unanimously approved a $2.6 billion, 10-year plan to repair hundreds of aging Toronto Community Housing Corporation buildings; however the plan relies on all three levels of government splitting the cost equally and neither the feds or the province have committed to that as of yet.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, Tory said he would invest the city’s $864 million share of the plan right away, rather than waiting for other levels of government to come on board.

“To me it is not acceptable as a policy to have that money in effect sitting in the city’s budget and not proceed with it because you are waiting for the other governments to come forward,” he said. “I am going to go see those governments immediately and say ‘We are spending our money because we are not prepared to let people live in the kinds of conditions that they are living in.’”

Tory said he ‘does not accept’ how slow the province and federal government have been in responding to the city’s plan to address the repair backlog at TCHC buildings and will act with “urgency” in convincing them to pay up.

“If I have to I will shame governments by saying ‘Look, this is something you should be partner in, you have been a partner in the past and we are going to expect you to be a partner going forward.’ It is one of the reasons I have emphasized over and over again how important it is to have the cooperation and partnerships with those two levels of government,” he said.

In addition to plans to address the repair backlog at the TCHC, Tory also said he would order a comprehensive review of the city-run agency with a report deadline of six months and would work to add to the city’s affordable housing portfolio by ensuring that more city-owned land is earmarked for new affordable housing developments.

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