Tory says he will press Toronto MPs for funding for TCHC repairs

Toronto : Mayor John Tory says he will underscore the need for federal funding to help repair crumbling community housing units in the city during a meeting with Liberal MPs today.
The city is investing $250-million in the repair of TCHC units in 2017 but the money represents the final portion of Toronto’s one-third share of a 10-year, $2.6 billion capital repair plan and so far neither the federal or provincial governments have come to the table with any additional money. As a result there is a possibility that the TCHC will have to close some units in the future rather than bringing them up to current standards.
Speaking with reporters at city hall on Thursday morning, Tory said there is a “glimmer of hope” in the form of rumblings that Ottawa may make “some allocation” to the City of Toronto for social housing repairs in their upcoming budget.
Nonetheless, the mayor said he plans to use a 90-minute meeting with Liberal MP’s today to make clear how high the stakes are.
The waitlist for placement in social housing buildings in Toronto currently contains about 97,000 households and 176,000 people
“I am going to tell them in no uncertain terms that we are reaching the point, and it will probably come this year, where if we don’t get some support from other governments in a meaningful way to help us with the repair of social housing there will be units where we have no choice but to close them,” he said. “We have invested $1 billion of property taxpayers’ money in repairing this housing. That is the share that we are able to put up and we shouldn’t be putting up any more. It is the time for these other governments to come to the table including the federal government.”
Tory said he has been mostly pleased with the federal government’s participation in various transit projects in Toronto in recent years but he said that he has been “disappointed” with their refusal to fund social housing in the city.
The mayor then cited a previous demand from himself and fellow big city mayors to create a $12.6 billion fund for large municipalities to use on housing.
“This business of housing affordability and the lack of supply of affordable renting housing is a very crucial problem in this country and it will not be solved by local taxpayers alone,” he said.
Tory’s meeting with Toronto MP’s is expected to last for about 90 minutes.