Decent, affordable, accessible housing for all!

*Stop the sell-off of public housing!*

May 23
11:30 am
13 Trefann Street
(north of Queen, just east of Parliament)
Free Meal

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, TCHC (Toronto Community Housing
Corporation) tenants, people on the TCHC waiting list and supporters will
meet outside of one of the houses slated to be sold by TCHC to demand it
and all TCHC units remain public housing.

TCHC is quietly proposing to sell-off 326 apartment units and 45 single
family homes that are located in sought-after neighbourhoods, primarily
downtown and in the Beaches. Many large families are living in two bedroom
apartments, waiting for larger units, while TCHC is emptying select units
in an attempt to to sell-off its prime real estate. These sales (and the
City's displacement of poor people through “redevelopment”) means that
many TCHC residents are being displaced from their schools, friends and
communities - neighbourhoods that many residents have lived in for years.

TCHC says that the units up for sale are in such a state of disrepair that
they cannot be fixed. We have seen many of the units and it is a bold
faced lie! Further, the units that are in really bad repair were
purposely not kept up by TCHC so that they could sell the units off down
the road and use their dilapidation as an excuse.

Public housing can be updated and revitalized without selling the land,
forcing people from their homes and displacing entire communities.


We Demand:

Build housing, don't sell it! Repair, don’t redevelop! Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell!

Stop the “Redevelopment” of Our Neighbourhoods
Currently, there are six large housing projects undergoing or slated for
redevelopment this redevelopment is being promoted as an improvement to
TCHC communities. Specifically, the city argues that the so called “mixed
communities” will improve the lives of poor people. The truth however is,
that this is an excuse to take away poor people's homes that have high
property values. The City isn't demanding that Rosedale be turned into a
'mixed neighbourhood' – just the places where poor people live. Further,
over time, these rebuilt communities will become gentrified; we can expect
TCHC to rent more of the units at market value, pushing poor people out.

Ensure that Enough Social, Supportive and Accessible Housing is Built to
Eliminate the Waiting List Over 70,000 households are waiting to get into
social housing. It takes about 5 years to get a tiny bachelor unit in
Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) and about 10 years to get
anything else. Thousands of people are working multiple jobs, going
hungry, and living in rotten conditions while they wait. Thousands of
homeless people pack into shelters or sleep on the streets every night
because no supportive housing is available. Accessible housing for
disabled people is very hard to find and is often extremely expensive. As
the economic crisis continues, this situation will get even worse. We
need more housing and we need it now!

Repair TCHC Units
Nearly 60,000 units of public housing in Toronto are being allowed to
deteriorate. TCHC admits that $300 million worth of repairs is needed to
bring their buildings up to a minimum legal standard. People are forced to
live with gaping holes, leaking ceilings, exposed pipes, peeling paint,
electrical sockets that spark and infestations of rats, mice and bedbugs.
This is unacceptable, this is illegal and it has to stop!

Don't Ask Don't Tell
People without immigration status are especially marginalized in our city.
People without status are forced into precarious housing, unable to access
safe, decent paying work and shut out from public services. There are
over 500,000 people living without status across Canada, many of whom live in
Toronto. A person without status is not eligible to apply for Toronto
Community Housing. Further, if a family, living in housing, has even one
family member without status that entire family will be evicted. We
demand the city implement a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. This policy would
prevent all TCHC workers from asking people what their immigration status
is, from refusing housing to people without status and from sharing that
information with immigration authorities.