Ontario Pre-Budget Consultations
Ministry of Finance, Budget Secretariat

January 21, 2008

Dr. Mitchell E. Kosny,
Chair, Toronto Community Housing

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity. I am Dr. Mitchell Kosny, Chair of Toronto Community Housing - Canada's largest landlord, the second largest social housing provider in North America and home to 164,000 tenants - families, seniors, recent immigrants and people with special needs. We own and operate 58,000 units across the city and our portfolio consists of over 2,000 buildings in 350 developments.

As a not-for-profit landlord committed to good places to live, equal opportunity, strong neighbourhoods and a green future, we commend your government's important commitment to a poverty reduction and affordable housing strategy and look forward to working with you.

As a sector, we too are committed to maintaining Ontario's growth economy and support continued advocacy on EI reform, childcare and social assistance that rises with inflation. We would like to highlight the role of housing as a complex good that drives the economy and affordable housing as an important element of a vibrant economy.

Research identifies that Toronto is losing mixed-income neighbourhoods and becoming a segregated city of the very rich and very poor. The OECD reports that Canadian cities have lagging productivity growth and the economic outlook is not promising. We believe some of this can be turned around by connecting social and economic thinking about housing. We hope to change the view of housing as an obligation to housing as an asset that builds lives, jobs and positive spillover effects for all communities.

Renewed investment in housing for Toronto and other large Ontario cities provides an opportunity to boost immigration and labour supply and improve the health and productivity of children and workers. And while there is a great need to create new affordable housing, there is an immediate need to fix the existing 250,000 units across Ontario or risk the financial burden of large scale replacement.

In the upcoming 2008 provincial budget, as a priority and an important campaign commitment, we propose an immediate financial solution to the most urgent issue we face - the inherited capital need in our existing stock; downloaded to municipalities by a former provincial government.

The capital repair deficit in Toronto Community Housing is now $300 million and continues to grow through inflation and deferral. We have, with the City of Toronto, already invested $550 million in capital and building renewal through borrowing, revenue generation and reinvestment of energy savings since 2002. Ottawa Community Housing's backlog is now $200 million. Windsor and Hamilton are facing similar challenges, with others close behind.

It is clear, through election commitments made by the government and both provincial opposition parties; there is agreement that tenants should have good places to live. Fixing this problem preserves valuable social infrastructure, creates economic opportunity and paves the way for an affordable housing and poverty reduction strategy moving forward.

To that end, with strong support from ONPHA, SHSC, the Co-op Housing Federation and others, we recommend that as a priority - the 2008 budget commit the funds needed to create a Social Housing Capital Financing Facility trust that would leverage at least $1.5 billion to repair, replace and regenerate Ontario's deteriorating social housing stock. As an example, an initial contribution of $100 million by the Province of Ontario would leverage $1.5 billion, or 15 times the initial investment from private capital markets, create construction jobs and is similar to the creative financial solution used to renew Ontario's schools.

Bringing our existing social housing up to standard, through repair and regeneration - will preserve a valuable public asset, with a $40 billion replacement cost, for generations to come. If we act now to renew older areas, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, spending on healthcare, education and social infrastructure. By regenerating communities we can create mixed-income, environmentally sustainable, mixed housing neighbourhoods that work and align with the government's priorities of poverty reduction, health, the environment and the economy.