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TDRC Media Releases |
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Media advisory
January 31, 2005
New anti-homeless law
won’t end homelessness, Toronto’s draft homeless plan – which goes to City Council this week – is a major step backwards from the already modest targets adopted by the city when it approved the Golden Task Force report in 1999. Dr. Anne Golden’s Homelessness Action Task Force called for 2,000 subsidized rental homes and 1,000 supportive housing units annually. The latest homeless scheme calls for 500 subsidized rental homes and 500 market-rent units annually – a massive cut from the earlier recommendation. Even worse, the latest scheme calls for a new anti-homeless by-law at Nathan Phillips Square, the city’s major public square. The new by-law will target homeless people based solely on their status and is a violation of the equality and mobility rights sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee is calling on City Council to make five amendments to the draft homeless plan: · First, drop the proposed ban on “camping” at Nathan Phillips Square. · Second, commit at least an additional $14.2 million in city dollars for new social (subsidized) housing to match the $14.2 million in re-allocated dollars. · Third, create a new city-community committee to ensure delivery of new homes. · Fourth, set the year one target at 3,000 truly affordable new homes. · Fifth, amend the street outreach strategy to make sure that temporary beds that will be lost in the spring are replaced and to effectively support existing outreach services. “Toronto City Council needs a housing-first plan to end homelessness in our city,” says Cathy Crowe, Street Nurse and TDRC steering committee member. “Forcing homeless people out of sight by driving them off Nathan Phillips Square is a disgrace, it’s costly and it won’t work.” “Toronto has failed miserably to meet even the modest goals set by Dr. Golden,” says Michael Shapcott, Research Co-ordinator for TDRC. “Instead of 18,000 new truly affordable homes as proposed by the 1999 report, Toronto has seen only 418 new affordable, transitional and supportive units since then. City Council should be re-doubling its efforts to create more desperately-needed new homes instead of creating new laws to target the homeless.” For more information, contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net -30- |