A new city agency could soon be created to operate the more than 80 seniors buildings contained in the Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s portfolio.
A staff report that will go before Mayor John Tory’s executive committee on Thursday is recommending the formation of a new city-owned seniors housing corporation that will be responsible for the operation of the 83 seniors-designated TCHC buildings, which contain a combined 14,000 units.
The motivation behind the change is to better integrate the delivery of housing and various supports for seniors that are offered by both the city and the provincial Toronto Local Health Integration Network.
“By integrating the delivery of housing and health services in the 83 seniors-designated buildings, the model promotes aging in place, better quality of life and successful tenancies,” the report states.
Staff are recommending that a new “Seniors Services and Long-Term Care division” be formed sometime in 2020. They say that it could initially take responsibility for 10 of the 83 seniors buildings. It would then assume responsibility for the entire portfolio by 2022.
The report says that the cost of the change would be $1.78 million in 2020. The cost would then rise to $5 to $6 million in 2022, though the report notes that staff anticipate that there will likely be some savings to offset that increase.
“An evaluation of phase one will focus on tenant outcomes as well as cost savings expected in certain areas such as external contractors and legal services. These savings are expected as a result of the preventive work that will take place with more staff on site to identify problems early on,” the report states.
The plan to hand over the operation of the TCHC’s seniors buildings is part of a wider initiative to improve living conditions, known as Tenants First.
Under the plan, the TCHC will retain ownership of the buildings.
