News release: Toronto Community Housing restructuring to improve frontline services to tenants

TORONTO, September 13, 2019—Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is restructuring its organization to add more front-line resources and empower staff to deliver better, faster service to its 110,000 tenants.

Building on the City of Toronto's Tenants First plan, Toronto Community Housing will implement the restructuring over the next six months. The following improvements, approved by the TCHC Board, will redirect resources to frontline teams that will provide services closer to where tenants live:

  • Decentralizing decision-making away from head office and into all buildings and communities, and hiring more superintendents, cleaners and support staff. This will ensure the right people can make the right decisions for tenants right away.      
  • Creating 134 local service hubs across the city, where the prime point of contact for tenants will be the building superintendent, supported by a local team focused on building services, tenancy management and community supports. This will make sure tenants get help for issues in their unit or building when they need it.
  • Investing $5 million a year to expand hours of service to cover evenings and weekends based on community needs and bring more services into buildings and local hubs. This is about making sure we have strong frontline services.
  • Empowering superintendents to make service decisions at the local level, so that tenants can have meaningful conversations about their homes that don't get lost in process. This is about cutting red tape and putting our tenants first.

To support these changes, TCHC is creating three new regional offices across the city each led by a General Manager with responsibility for the complete spectrum of tenant services.

Quotes:

"Our plan is about recognizing that the best service is provided by staff on the ground who know our tenants and understand their needs. That's why we are empowering our local teams to make more decisions on-site, and deliver the quality service our tenants deserve."  

—TCHC President and CEO Kevin Marshman 

"The restructuring plan is a huge step forward in putting tenants first. This is an investment in frontline services to help residents while reducing layers of red tape and bureaucracy. I look forward to supporting Kevin Marshman and his team in implementing these changes so that TCHC tenants can receive the quality services and supports they deserve."

—Mayor John Tory

"Toronto Community Housing tenants deserve to know that Canada's largest social housing provider is making the most of its resources, while providing support services that are simple, accessible and responsive to local needs."

—Deputy Mayor Ana Bailâo

"As a TCHC tenant, I welcome these improvements to bring services closer to our homes and make it easier for us to connect with staff and get timely decisions about the services we need. It's going to make a big difference for our communities."

—TCHC Tenant Board Director Ubah Farah

Additional resources:

About Toronto Community Housing:

Toronto Community Housing is Canada's largest social housing provider. Toronto Community Housing provides homes for nearly 60,000 low- and moderate-income households in neighbourhoods across the city. Toronto Community Housing is wholly owned by the City of Toronto and its 2,100 buildings represent a $10-billion public asset.

TCHC media line (416) 737-1352 or media@torontohousing.ca