Do you have other ideas or solutions?

Tell us. There's still time to participate. Send your solutions, ideas, and recommendations to cmp@torontohousing.ca by October 11, 2012

Maintaining our assets >>

Toronto Community Housing's buildings are aging rapidly and becoming harder and harder to maintain. How would you find the resources needed to repair them?

Providing sustainable services >>

How would you establish sustainable revenue sources so that Toronto Community Housing can maintain its buildings and provide good levels of service for tenants?

Healthy, safe and sustainable communities >>

Many tenants need additional support to stay housed. Without the funding and expertise to help them, what would you do?

Improve the condition and safety of buildings 

“Ask [tenants] to identify the most important issues in their building.”

“Pay better attention to the quality of work done by contractors.”

“Have monthly tenant and staff meetings about security issues.”

“If we can’t have full time security, at least have more random visits by security and more night security.”

“Housing should target safety unit presence in known hot spots.”

Read a summary of where tenants thought we should focus our efforts >>

Make funding for affordable housing a priority for everyone 

“Help tenants organize to lobby governments for funding. Bring back S.O.S. (Save Our Structures).”

“Make sure repairs are done right the first time, stop wasting money on repeating the same repair over and over and over.”

“Housing should rent out empty units faster.”

Read a summary of where tenants thought we should focus our efforts >> 

Connect tenants to the supports they need

“Consult with tenants about our needs before giving an agency space
in the building. Sometimes they don’t provide the services we need.”

Read a summary of where tenants thought we should focus our efforts >> 

Improve the condition and safety of buildings 

• Give tenants the opportunity to provide feedback on the quality of work done
• Be more accountable at the building level for repair work
• Create a local contingency fund plan to respond to urgent repairs
• Revisit the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process
• Help tenants create a building or neighbourhood network to notify Toronto Community Housing and neighbours about maintenance issues (which could be a part of a PB or building accountability program/process)
• Involve tenants in cleaning and maintenance of buildings – which also helps promote a sense of community
• Develop future capital plans for individual communities and share them with the community to ‘keep tenants in-the-know’
• Invest in preventative maintenance (for example: buy quality products and don’t always use the cheapest)
• Increase the building to staff ratio per unit
• Use better quality pest control services
• Improve the visibility of security
• More night security
• Involve tenants in solving security issues
• Improve building safety (for example: better lighting, door security, cameras, safety audits)

Make funding for affordable housing a priority for everyone 

• Advocate for Section 37 funds – work closer with City Council to prioritize use of this fund
• Engage the province and federal government to discuss a national housing plan
• Start a public education campaign about the value of social housing in every community
• Advocate for more supportive housing with ‘appropriate support’
• Fundraise and involve tenants
• Partner with private companies
• Hold a Toronto Community Housing lottery (like Princess Margaret), raffles, cultural shows, walk-a-thons, etc.
• Increase rental revenue
• Ensure repairs are done right the first time – stop wasting money repeating the same repairs over and over
• Faster turnover of empty units
• Use email or door delivery more, instead of spending money on postage
• Streamline staffing
• Recoup money from tenants who cause damage to units
• Compost and sell to gardeners or farmers

Connect tenants to the supports they need

• Stricter enforcement of tenancy rules, such as ‘reasonable enjoyment’
• Provide clear communication in different languages and use symbols or pictures (also use methods such as door-to-door notices and social media)
• Help tenants secure skills and jobs (such as internship opportunities for tenants in construction, which can help give tenants knowledge and skills to help maintain buildings).
• Educate tenants about community resources that are available to them
• Consult with tenants when community organizations want to provide services in buildings (to make sure that the services are aligned with the needs of  tenants who live in that building)
• Encourage activities that help tenants get to know their neighbours
• Persuade the Ministry of Health to fund a mental health strategy