HOUSINGAGAIN-L Housing Again Bulletin #5

[Catherine Nasmith <cnasmith@istar.ca>]

HOUSING AGAIN // e-bulletin
January 12, 2000 // Number 5

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A twice-monthly electronic bulletin published in on what people are doing 
to Put Housing Back on the Public Agenda in Ontario, across Canada and 
around the world.

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Our first issue of the new millennium features a look back at the year 1999. 
It was a busy year on the housing front at the federal, provincial and 
municipal levels and by community-based groups. Here are some of the 
highlights.

In this bulletin:

1 - Ottawa: Year ends with big announcement
2 - Ontario: Province moves ahead with download
3 - Municipalities: Picking up the slack
4 - Where's Home: Defining the crisis
5 - The year ahead: Key events
6 - On our site: Fresh news right away

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1 - Ottawa: Year ends with big announcement

The year ended with a big announcement on a national homelessness 
strategy, but the most important housing story at the federal level hardly 
made it into the headlines.

The federal government spent most of 1999 claiming that it cared for the 
homeless, while behind the scenes it was quietly moving ahead with its 
plan to transfer federal social housing programs to the provinces and 
territories. The stealthy move to abandon federal housing programs and 
policies received almost no attention.

The federal plan to devolve social housing, first announced in 1996, is close 
to completion. By the end of 1999, Ottawa had transferred administration of 
housing to all three territories and six of the provinces (including Ontario, 
which has the biggest social housing portfolio). Social housing projects in 
Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta and Prince Edward Island are the only 
ones remaining under federal control, and deals are expected with most of 
those provinces in the coming months.

One bright light on the devolution front has been the highly successful 
campaign by federal housing co-operatives to remain under federal 
administration. In January of 1999, the feds announced that federal co-ops 
in Ontario would not be transferred to the province. Later in the year, 
similar announcements were made for Alberta, P.E.I. and B.C. Co-ops are 
now working to have federal co-ops in provinces where transfer deals have 
already been signed uploaded back to the federal level. Federal co-ops and 
on-reserve aboriginal housing are the only two housing programs that 
remain at the federal level.

Once the devolution plan is complete, Canada will be the only developed 
country in the world without a national housing program.

On the homelessness front, Prime Minister Jean Chretien appointed Labour 
Minister Claudette Bradshaw as federal co-ordinator for homelessness in 
mid-March, just days before a national symposium on housing and 
homelessness in Toronto. Minister Bradshaw, who has a strong background 
in community work before she was elected as an MP, started on a 
cross-country tour during the summer.

Her personal commitment to the issues, and her non-nonsense approach, 
won her some elbow room in the early months, but by the fall Minister 
Bradshaw had still not delivered a single penny of new funding or a single 
stick of new housing. She recycled some federal rehabilitation funds to pay 
for new hostel beds in Toronto in October, but still no new dollars.

While Minister Bradshaw pleaded with her cabinet colleagues for financial 
assistance, community-based housing and homeless groups were growing 
stronger right across the country. During the year, new groups (such as the 
British Columbia Housing and Homelessness Network) emerged, and 
existing groups (such as the Front d'action populaire en reamanagement 
urbaine in Montreal and the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee) revved up 
their work.

Two new national groups were formed. The National Housing and 
Homeless Network drew together community-based housing and homeless 
advocates in eight cities across the country, while the National Coalition on 
Housing and Homelessness joined existing national and regional labour, 
faith, Aboriginal and housing groups into a powerful new voice.

The devastating reality of the nation-wide homelessness disaster and 
housing crisis, coupled with increased activity by advocates, put huge 
pressure on the federal government. Just days before the end of the year, 
Minister Bradshaw and several of her cabinet colleagues, travelled to a 
youth shelter in Toronto to announce a three-year, $750 million 
homelessness strategy. It was a big step forward, especially compared to the 
federal homelessness announcement one year earlier, which was a mere 
$50 million in additional rehabilitation funds.

Almost all of the money will go into new shelters and services for 
homeless people, and very little into new housing. Housing advocates 
greeted the announcement with the same question they have been asking 
the feds all year: "Where's the housing?"

Instead of brushing them off, Alfonso Gagliano, the federal housing 
minister, and his cabinet colleagues promised that the homelessness 
strategy was the "first step" and that action on housing would start early in 
the new year. He said that he would contact his provincial counterparts and 
start federal-provincial-territorial housing talks.

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2 - Ontario: Province moves ahead with download

The Ontario government spent most of the year 1999 frustrated as its 
housing download plans were put on hold. The Harris government started 
the download in 1998 when it started to bill municipalities for the cost of 
provincial social housing programs. The province wanted to dump the 
administration of those programs onto municipalities, but was blocked for 
most of the year.

In order to download the administration, Queen's Park needed control over 
federal-provincial cost-shared programs. To gain that control, the province 
needed to sign a social housing transfer deal with the feds. The federal 
Liberals were leery of signing a deal with the provincial Tories, especially 
considering the Harris government's provincial-municipal download 
scheme.

By mid-November, however, the feds and the province had signed a 
transfer deal. Ontario's interim housing minister, Tony Clement, 
immediately shifted the municipal download plans into high gear. By the 
spring of 2000, municipalities will be forced to pay for the cost of 
administering social housing programs (municipalities have been paying 
the cost of the housing for the past two years). The province intends to 
bring in legislation in the spring to complete the provincial-municipal 
download.

The province has created 47 new municipal bodies called "Consolidated 
Municipal Service Managers" to take on administration of social housing.

Once Queen's Park has completed its download plans, then neither the 
federal nor provincial governments will have any responsibility for 
housing in Ontario. Cash-strapped local municipalities, which rely on 
property taxes for revenue, will not only fund existing social housing, but 
also will have to figure out how to pay for desperately-needed new 
affordable housing.

In mid-March, the provincial government somewhat timidly decided to 
re-enter the housing field when it announced two new initiatives totaling 
about $100 million. About half would go to support new supportive 
housing for people with mental health concerns, while the other half was 
targeted for rent supplements or shelter allowances for low-income 
households.

By the end of the year, the province had approved a handful of supportive 
housing initiatives, but there had been no progress on providing subsidies 
for low-income renters.

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3 - Municipalities: Picking up the slack

Much of the action on the housing front in Canada during 1999 was at the 
municipal level. Municipalities, along with community partners, were 
generating studies and action plans and they started to allocate money for 
housing initiatives in several communities, including Ottawa, Toronto and 
Peel Region.

The two senior levels of government (federal and provincial) have the 
broadest tax base and are best able to pay for new housing initiatives, but 
both levels have effectively abandoned their responsibility - at least for the 
present time.

The year began with the release of the final report of the Toronto Mayor's 
Task Force on Homelessness (the Golden report). Although the report was 
geared to Toronto, its impact was felt across Ontario and throughout 
Canada. Many other municipalities across the province produced their own 
studies (from Ottawa to Peterborough to North Bay to Peel Region to 
Belleville to Muskoka, with many more in between) and the momentum 
grew at the municipal level.

Meanwhile, the City of Toronto and the Federation of Canadian 
Municipalities (FCM) co-sponsored a national symposium on housing and 
homelessness in late March which attracted hundreds of municipal 
politicians and officials, along with community advocates. The event 
provided powerful momentum to the municipal campaign, in particular 
providing a great deal of support for a national housing strategy being 
developed by the FCM.

The National Housing Policy Options Paper, adopted by the FCM at its June 
annual meeting, called for a new national strategy in which municipalities 
would take a key role in partnership with other levels of government and 
the community. The FCM called for 20,000 new assisted rental units 
annually, 10,000 rehabilitated assisted units annually, and 40,000 new rent 
subsidies annually.

Later in the year, the FCM bundled its housing plan into a larger municipal 
infrastructure proposal, including environment and transportation.

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4 - Where's Home - Defining the crisis

Community-based groups in Ontario and across Canada mobilized 
powerfully during 1999 to put housing and homelessness squarely on the 
political agenda.

The Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative 
Housing Federation of Canada - Ontario Region, which represent 
non-profit and co-op housing providers in Ontario, collaborated on what 
has grown to be the most comprehensive and most-quoted housing study 
on the provincial rental housing market. The preliminary results of 
Where's Home Part 1 were released to the media on March 22. The final 
report of Part 1, with detailed information on eight Ontario communities, 
was released simultaneously in seven communities across Ontario on May 
3.

The release of Part 1 became the single biggest housing story of the year, 
drawing more than 75 radio and television stories in the 24 hours following 
the release of the report, plus prominent stories in every daily and many 
community newspapers in the province. The huge success of the initial 
release helped to put housing squarely on the agenda of the provincial 
election, which was called a few days after the release of Part 1.

Where's Home Part 2 built on the original study by adding 13 additional 
communities. The second part was co-sponsored by Housing Again and was 
released on November 4 at a press conference at Queen's Park, with local 
releases in all 13 communities plus a simultaneous launch on the Housing 
Again web site (http://www.housingagain.web.net).

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5 - The year ahead: Key events

Late February - Federal budget is expected. Housing advocates are calling for 
a massive reinvestment in a national housing program.

March/April - Ontario budget is expected. Not much is expected, but 
housing advocates are calling for the province to get back into the housing 
business.

Spring - The Ontario government is expected to introduce legislation to 
complete its plans to download social housing to municipalities. Housing 
providers fear that the province could move to "harmonize" social housing 
programs and strip away legal protections in existing operating agreements 
as part of the download plans.

June - Provincial and territorial housing ministers' meet in New 
Brunswick. At the last meeting, housing ministers promised to bring 
forward a provincial housing strategy at the 2000 meeting.

November - Municipal elections in Ontario. With much of the housing 
action at the municipal level, the local elections will take on even more 
importance for housing advocates.

And finally, sometime in 2000/2001 - The next federal election could come 
as early as later this year, or sometime in the year 2001.

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6 - On our site: Fresh news, right away!

Check out the "Alerts" section of the Housing Again web site for fresh news 
posted right away. The section is updated daily and contains lots of 
important and interesting information. For instance, within hours of the 
federal government's major announcement on December 17th of a 
national housing strategy, detailed responses were posted from several 
housing experts and advocacy groups. Point your browser to 
http://www.housingagain.web.net then click on "alerts". Make sure to 
check regularly for new information. If you have a news release or other 
news, you can post it to the site by clicking on "post".

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