Former Toronto mayor Art Eggleton will lead a six-person task force that will “take a hard look” at social housing in Toronto, John Tory has announced.
Tory told reporters that the task force will focus on four areas, including current operations and service delivery at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, potential partnerships and innovation for the future, capital revitalization and new development and governance and structure.
The task force will submit an interim report by July with its final report due before the end of 2015, Tory said.
“I think we need fresh ideas and big ideas when it comes to community housing and I have full confidence that these men and woman are up to the task,” Tory said. “We need to make sure that Toronto community housing is serving its residents and the people of Toronto in the best possible way, now and in the future.”
The Toronto Community Housing Corp. will invest more than $175 million in repairing aging buildings in 2015, but the interim CEO of the agency has previously warned that some units in a critical state of repair may have to be boarded up if the province and federal government don’t chip in their one-third share of a 10-year, $2.6-billion capital repair plan by 2016.
Speaking with reporters at a TCHC building in Regent Park, Tory said he is hoping that the task force will help him address the question of how the city can avoid being in “a constant cap and hand routine” as it searches for funding to address a mammoth repair backlog.
Tory, however, said the work of the task force will extend beyond dollars and cents.
The TCHC has been plagued by various scandals in recent years involving spending and hiring practices, ultimately leading to the removal of CEO Gene Jones last April.
“It is clear to me that the structure as it has been for some period of time is not working that well, so I would hope that the task force will focus itself on asking what kind of structure can help this organization do a better job for all of us,” he said. “It is all on the table.”
Eggleton says affordable housing must be priority
Eggleton served as the mayor of Toronto between 1980 and 1991 and later went on to a career in federal politics, where he held several cabinet posts before being appointed to the Senate in 2005.
Discussing his role as the lead of the task force, Eggleton told reporters that “having more affordable housing” will be a priority for him as will be making current TCHC tenants feel like “they are part of the community.”
“In taking up our task we will want to hear from various stakeholders, particularly the tenants, and we are going to look at a lot of different options,” he said. “Let’s look outside the box. Let’s look for some innovation, let’s look for some different options in terms of how we deal with this major housing provider. At the end of the day I want people who live in Toronto community housing to feel that it is their home.”
The other members of the task force include:
- University of Toronto Public Policy Professor Janet Mason
- Former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark
- Former President of Woodgreen Community Services Bryan F.C. Smith
- CEO of Oxford Property Group Blake Blake Hutcheson
- TCHC tenant Representative Muna Mohamed
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