HOUSINGAGAIN-L Housing Again Bulletin # 15

[Catherine Nasmith <cnasmith@sympatico.ca>]

HOUSING AGAIN - Bulletin Number 15
July 4, 2000

A twice monthly electronic bulletin published on what people are doing
to put housing back on the public agenda in Ontario, across Canada and
around the world. Our web site is http://www.housingagain.web.net

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In this bulletin
1. Mysterious SCPI skips along
2. A nice place to visit . if you aren't a teacher
3. A secret garden for housing programs
4. Visit our web site

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1. Mysterious SCPI skips along

Beware the dog days of early July if you or your organisation hopes to
get money from the federal government's long awaited homelessness
initiative.

It's been over six months since the federal government announced its
three part programme with funding divided among CMHC, HRDC, and, the new
aspect of the programme: 'Supporting Communities' Partnership
Initiatives' - SCPI. So far, SCPI (pronounced like the peanut butter)
has remained somewhat mysterious.

About two weeks ago, the Government of Canada revealed that SCPIs $50
million would be divided among ten major cities, with the bulk going to
Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto (see HousingAgain website for news reports)
Only 20% of the total is available for allocation to other communities.

Talks are under way between HRDC and the provinces to decide where this
money might go. In Ontario the HRDC regional office's Homelessness Unit
will probably administer the funds.

As for criteria and process - the terms and conditions on which money
will be allocated -  HRDC prepared a submission to the Treasury Board in
mid-June, but it remains with the federal Treasury Board. While waiting
for news, affordable housing advocate Jon Harstone, says "I never recall
being concerned before about what Treasury Board does. Now it's key,
even for SCPI.  We don't even know if the HRDC submission has yet been
on the agenda of the Board."

What is known is that federal money must be matched by funds from other
levels of government.

Word from bureaucrats is that there will be no money available to spend
until December because of a consultation process that involves the three
levels of government. Applications are already fruitlessly piling up on
the desk of Stan Wozick, director of HRDC for Toronto, even though the
terms and conditions are not even settled, and may not be for some time.
Wozick will only facilitate the process after it has been settled.

No one knows what SCPI really intends. Is the money to be spent on
housing or for services to the homeless?

Noreen Dunphy of Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association says, "It's just
a homelessness action plan, more like social services with a limited
mandate. It probably is a subset of homelessness initiatives for those
already on the street, or to prevent more homelessness by providing
services, not housing itself."

According to Dunphy's combination of information, rumour, and
old-hand-intuition, it will centre on a 'community entity' of some kind,
perhaps closely aligned to the municipality concerned.

"Bradshaw wants to fill in the gaps," Dunphy says, "fill in the chinks
involved in the initiative with a community action plan. Maybe at the
end of the day, all areas will have a 'community entity' struck."

Harstone, by way of contrast, is betting that housing, not services,
will be the centre of the plan. "You need to be careful how to phrase
the request," he warns. "The key is 'transitional' housing. In Toronto,
which is allocated $17 million, that could mean 250 units at $60,000 per
unit, which could free up 250 hostel beds.

"But none of the money will be spent till next year because of the
process,"
he adds.

Harstone fears that the required planning process will delay
construction for so long that by the time a project is ready to go, time
will be so short that grant money cannot be spent in the allocated year
and will return to the government's general revenues. Amazingly enough,
often announced grants are never used.

Harstone points to the Mayor's Homeless Initiative Fund (in Toronto)
with $2.5 million of which only $0.5 million was dispersed, and that
went mainly into planning. Perhaps those plans might be the basis of a
SCPI application for construction funds, providing the project does not
face neighbourhood opposition forcing an OMB hearing, a delay which
could lead to forfeiting the grant.

Then again, it's unclear what the terms of SCPI will be.

2. A nice place to visit . if you aren't a teacher

The working poor is a relatively new concept in Canada. The phrase used
to be more applicable to garbage pickers in third world cities than
security men at Pearson International Airport, for example, or immigrant
dishwashers in Chinatown.

Now, according to the New York Times, teachers belong to the same class.
San Francisco is building a 43-unit rent-subsidized apartment building
for new members of the working poor-teachers. With an average annual
income of $40,000, teachers are practically living on the streets in a
city where the average house price is nearly $500,000. Apparently rural
areas attract teachers with housing subsidies, but this step by HUD, the
federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, is not to attract
teachers but to allow them to live in the same city as where they teach.
Teachers who win the lottery for these apartments will pay $700 a month
for one bedroom unit.

The Times reports that Boston and Seattle are among other cities
thinking along the same lines. Given what's happening in Ontario to both
the education system and housing, can we be far behind?

The Times did point out that this apartment complex beside a new
elementary school is a step above the suggested offer of "vacant former
Navy housing on Treasure Island, a windswept spot in the San Francisco
Bay."

3.  A secret garden for housing programs

If you blinked at the wrong time you may not have realised that the last
federal budget offered money for housing.  Buried in the infrastructure
grant program lies opportunities to make money available for housing.

According to housing activist Jon Harstone, the federal Treasury Board
is currently meeting with the provinces to determine how to allocate
this money. There is however, something insidious about allowing the
provinces to be involved in this to the exclusion of municipalities.
It's the same mind-set that permitted the federal government to download
administration of the public housing stock to provinces actively opposed
to subsidized housing.

In Ontario, you can guess the provincial government will choose to use
the money to support streets or sewers, perhaps to support a new middle
class suburban housing subdivision-in effect a housing subsidy for the
relatively well off.

A decision may be announced in September as to where exactly the money
should go. Attempts to influence that decision should be aimed at the
Treasury Board.

4. Visit our web site

Check out the "Alerts" section of the Housing Again web site for fresh
news posted right away. The section is updated daily and contains
important and interesting information. 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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