HOUSINGAGAIN-L Housing Again Bulletin No. 16

[Catherine Nasmith <cnasmith@sympatico.ca>]

HOUSING AGAIN - Bulletin Number 16
August 3, 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

We’ve taken a little summer vacation, in July. We are planning two
additional bulletins in August, mid month and at the end. Read on… 


In this bulletin
1. Peel takes a lead in forging a path to affordable housing
2. Atkinson Housing Co-operative – hope for all public housing tenants?
3. OPPI policy development paper
4. "Alerts" from the web site
5. New Front Page at Housing Again
6. Call for feedback


1.      Peel takes a lead in forging a path to affordable housing

Many municipal housing providers and developers in Ontario have been
supporting the advocacy work of FCM, CHRA and AMO for the past few
years, and indications are that something big may happen sometime soon.  

Peel Living, however, as frustrated as anyone else at the lack of swift
action by federal and provincial governments, is working on a couple of
pilot projects to test out some new ideas.

For the last year, Peel Living has been working on two projects that
Keith Ward hopes will establish what financing package will work in
today’s development environment.  Both projects will be built on land
owned by the region that is being provided free of charge.  In addition,
both projects will be asking the city for some concessions on
development charges, although they are not currently asking for a
complete waiver.

Peel Living is also talking to CMHC about a reduction or waiver in the
mortgage insurance fund application fees, and will be looking at how the
new provincial rent supplement program can be applied to the projects.

Other than that, the two projects are very different – in terms of the
target group, and in design and financial considerations.  

One project is geared to the needs of people who normally look for SRO
housing. The project has clusters of very small self-contained units,
designed around several staircases in a low-rise apartment building. 
The target rent is $500 or less.  

The second project is a larger, more traditional seniors building, which
would have higher market rents and would use the rent supplement funds
to assist low-income tenants.

The projects are in the design and municipal approvals stage now, and
Keith is hoping for a spring construction start.  

In other initiatives, Peel Living is talking to the faith community
about which churches could provide surplus land for similar projects. 
Peel Living is prepared to help with preliminary feasibility analysis to
get things moving on up to 10 projects.  There have also been some
discussions with the private sector, but nothing will likely move
forward except in cases where the developer is able to provide the land
free or very cheap.

******

2.      Atkinson Housing Co-operative – hope for all public housing tenants?

Atkinson Housing Co-op could be the start of good things to come for
public housing tenants in Ontario.

Alexandra Park is a 410 unit public housing project in downtown Toronto.
The project was built in 1968, and includes 140 apartments in two medium
rise buildings and 270 townhouses.  It is currently owned and managed by MTHA.

The residents of Alexandra Park are in the process of converting their
community from a government housing project into a non-profit housing
co-operative.  The co-op will be known as the Atkinson Housing
Co-operative, named after Sonny Atkinson, a longtime president of the
Alexandra Park Residents’ Association (APRA).  It was Sonny Atkinson who
led the Alexandra Park residents as they began the process of converting
from public housing to co-op housing prior to his death in 1996.

APRA had been looking at the options for tenant self-management when
Sonny met Mark Goldblatt, a co-op housing advocate, in 1993.  Mark was
working on the idea of converting public housing into co-operative
housing at the time, and they worked together for many long and
frustrating years to turn this project into reality.

At the time, local MPP Rosario Marchese was (and still is) very
supportive, but NDP Housing Minister Evelyn Gigantes did not support the
conversion, and nothing happened for awhile.  APRA worked on tenant
education with the help of a grant from MTHA, and held a referendum in
April 1995, which showed strong tenant support for proceeding with the 
conversion.

Although Conservative Housing Minister Al Leach showed some initial
support for the conversion, it took many years of inaction on the
government’s part and a huge effort in organizing tenants, mobilizing
political support and preparing a conversion plan on APRA’s part to get
things to where they are today.  

Finally, at a press conference at the Alexandra Park Community Centre on
June 5, 1998, Leach announced that the government had approved the
conversion plan.  Since it had been three years since the referendum,
the board of APRA wanted to make sure that the co-op still had the
support of the residents.  The board decided that they would provide
more education on the co-op alternative, and then circulate a petition
asking residents to vote for or against the co-op option.  For months,
volunteers and staff of the Co-op Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT)
knocked on doors and talked to residents about the petition and about
becoming a member of the co-op.

By the end of the first week in December 1998, 66% of households had
voted and, of those voting, 79% had voted in favour of becoming a
housing co-op.  In 1999, Atkinson Co-op elected its first Board of
Directors.  Desmond Wilson was elected as the first president.  The
co-op has passed an organizational by-law and has tabled a draft
operating agreement with MTHA.  Atkinson Housing Co-operative will take
over the management of Alexandra Park on July 1, 2001.

The co-op’s financial arrangement with the government is a little
different from most in a number of ways:

--MTHA will continue to own the property, and the co-op will lease it
for $2 per year for fifty years.  The   property will revert to
government management if the co-op fails to correct a major fault.

--Each year an operating budget is negotiated with MTHA, and MTHA covers
any deficit in the agreed budget.  In addition, the co-op has proposed
that the government be responsible for paying to bring the property up
to current standards over the first 3 to 5 years of the co-op’s operation.

--If expenses are less than in the agreed budget, the savings are shared
50-50 between the co-op and MTHA.  The co-op’s share of this money will
go to pay for projects that will benefit the community such as
recreation programs.  This will give residents a big incentive to save
on operating costs.

Aside from that, this project will operate like any other co-op, will
manage itself democratically, hire property management staff, and
provide continuing education and training for directors and committee members.

Through the whole process, Mark Goldblatt, CHFT, and other supporters
have hoped that this conversion would pave the way for others in the
province.  Hopefully, the government will be prepared to give every
public housing project an equal opportunity to convert.  The difficulty
is in the time and money required to do the tenant organizing in every
project.  Although a number of funders have been quite generous with
grants to cover costs at Atkinson, there is still a shortfall.  And this
is just one project.

CHFT is now working on a campaign to use the experience gained at
Alexandra Park to create a model for conversion in other public housing
projects.  The campaign will define and promote a vision of affordable
housing, analyze the costs involved, monitor the progress with the
Atkinson Co-op, and ensure that there are funds to implement a short-
and long-term education and community development plan.

This campaign is called the Strong Communities Campaign, and its
leadership group includes Mitchell Cohen, Barbara Hall, David
Hulchanski, Lillian Loppie, Alan Redway, John Sewell, and Desmond
Wilson.  We hope that their efforts will make a difference in this
important and exciting work.

********

3.      OPPI working on policy development paper

The Ontario Professional Planners’ Institute (OPPI is producing a policy
development paper on "The Municipal Role in Meeting Ontario’s Affordable
Housing Needs".  Planners Edward Starr and Christine Pacini of The Starr
Group are writing the document.

The paper is currently in the research stage, the writers are gathering
information on best practices and innovative ideas developed by
municipalities to help meet the need for affordable housing in Ontario
and elsewhere.  People with information to contribute or ideas for leads
are asked to get in touch with Ed or Christine at the following address –

e-mail:         edstarr @sympatico.ca
fax:            905-833-3456
mail:           The Starr Group Inc., 12981 Keele St., Unit 3, King City, Ont. 
L7B 1G2
telephone:      Ed at 905-833-1313 or Christine at 905-770-7581

The requested deadline for material is August 4, so if you have
something to contribute, do not delay.  And, look for a draft of the
paper by October!

*******
4.      Highlights from the Housing Again web site

One of the most interesting sections of our web site is "Alerts". 
People post news items there on a regular basis, so there is often a
smattering of interesting tidbits to look at.

A sampling of recent pieces –

* The social impacts of Toronto’s 2008 olympic bid from the Bread Not
Circuses Coalition (July 31, 2000) – this is just one of many recent
pieces about Toronto’s bid and the impacts of holding an olympics in general.
* Hefty rent increases for Oakville seniors – a chilling snapshot of the
"Tenant Protection" Act at work from David Lewis Stein in the Hamilton
Spectator (July 28, 2000)
* A report on the opening of Toronto’s first social housing project in
five years – Dixon Hall’s new 40-unit building on St. Lawrence Street
(July 13, 2000)
* PLUS, a bunch of articles about people opposing affordable housing
developments and strategies in Toronto, stories with a human rights
slant, reports of recent appointments and current events

It’s better than your local newspaper, as good as having a clipping
service.  Check it out. 
Point your browser to http://www.housingagain.web.net and then click on
Alerts. If you have news to share please post at Alerts or Events-just
cut and paste and within a day it will go live for all to see. 

5. New Front Page at Housing Again

We’ve made some improvements to the Front Page at Housing Again
http://www.housingagain.web.net, We’ve introduced several What’s New
flags to highlight changes in the different areas of the site. Please
check it out

*******

6. Call for Feedback

Housing Again is funded until the end of December. We are in the process
of assembling grant applications and exploring possibilities for getting
on a more sustainable financial footing. (It costs about $2,500.00/month
to maintain all the areas of the site and to produce the newsletter)

If you use the site, we’d appreciate it if you let us know what you like
(or don’t) about us, what you use it for, and what you might like to see
added. 

If you have any suggestions to offer about financial sources please pass
them on. Please send your comments to: 

Catherine Nasmith
Housing Again Project Manager
Cnasmith@sympatico.ca

End