Mayor-elect Olivia Chow slammed the federal government Wednesday for not taking responsibility for housing refugees it brings into the country, but said she’s “hopeful” she’ll be able to work with them to improve the situation.
“The federal government is not paying a cent right now for refugees’ housing, period,” Chow told reporters following a meeting in Scarborough with community leaders and the private sector as part of her transition. “That is the truth. I am just saying right up front.”
Chow cited city figures indicating that a third of the clients in the city’s overflowing shelter system are refugees, and said refugees are an area of federal responsibility.
The problem, Chow said, is plain to see outside an intake centre in the city’s Entertainment District where a few dozen people are sleeping in an encampment on the sidewalk, mountains of belongings and blankets piled around them.
The city has previously said that it needs $97 million from the federal government this year alone to help offset the costs of providing shelter for refugees.
While the federal government does respond to requests from the city for reimbursement on a year-by-year basis, it does not provide regular predictable funding to support refugee housing.
“The current pattern – where the City responds to successive crises by providing assistance with the promise of being reimbursed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) at a future date – is not sustainable, efficient, or optimal,” city staff said in a report in March.
However Chow, who is not set to be officially sworn into the role of mayor until July 12, said a conversation she had with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently left her “hopeful” that progress can be made.
“I'm a hopeful person,” Chow said. “In the conversation I had with the prime minister, he talked about the importance of affordable housing, he talked about the importance of immigrants and refugees arriving to the City of Toronto.
She said the conversation was “very hopeful.”
“He understands the importance of welcoming refugees or immigrants coming to this country,” Chow said. “There's a commitment.”
Chow said in the interim the city’s frontline services are “overwhelmed” and need extra support. She added that she will be meeting with some of those groups next week to hear from them about their needs.
Chow spoke with reporters after meeting with United Way, the Daniels Corporation and other groups to discuss the Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity Initiative (ILEO) underway in Scarborough’s Golden Mile neighbourhood.
The initiative focuses on bringing together government, community groups and the private sector to improve neighbourhoods through employment initiatives, procurement practices, development, and support for entrepreneurs, among other things.
Chow has listed building more affordable housing as one of her top priorities for her first year in office.
The meeting was held at the Victoria Park Hub, which provides services for families and recent immigrants
Chow praised the model and said she’d like to see it explored further as part of housing initiatives in other neighbourhoods as well.
“The challenge that we all face together as the next step is to how do we take this entire development – the community of new people that are coming in – how do we make sure that what's being built here will be good housing, good jobs, and services for the residents, but also some part of it, making sure it's affordable,” Chow said.
Chow was also asked about a new report listing the TTC as the least reliable transit servicein the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and said she knows there is much room for improvement.
“I get it, I experience it,” Chow said. “We will make it more reliable, faster, safer. It’s a challenge.”
She said the city needs to get people back on the TTC in order to bolster the service’s revenues, which dropped off sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and still haven’t returned to normal. She said she plans to try to work with Premier Doug Ford on the issue and also vowed to move ahead with a promise to reverse recent TTC service cuts.
“Yes, I will reverse those service cuts. Yes, the service cut will make the service even less reliable,” Chow said. “And I will find the financial means to do so, trust me.”
